Best of Cerulean Sanctum

If Jesus Can?

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Jesus casts a demon out of a boy

"O unbelieving generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me." So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.Jesus asked the boy's father, "How long has he been like this?"

"From childhood," he answered. "It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us."

"'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes."
—Mark 9:19-23 NIV

If you've been following along with the McCheyne Bible reading program, you will have encountered this passage in the last few days. The NIV translates that last verse differently than most other versions, but I like the way it reads in that translation. It drives the point home.

"'If you can'?" said Jesus.

When I picture this encounter, I can see Jesus taken aback. He looks at the father of this demonized child with an unverbalized question spanning His face, Did he just say what I thought he said? It's not hard to envision Jesus shaking his head in response. O unbelieving generation….

Nothing has troubled me more in the last few years than the truth that we American Christians sound too much like the boy's father in this passage from Mark. "If" crops up repeatedly in our prayers. It's a carefully placed word—a qualifier that serves as our out when things don't go as planned. A convenient way of not being disappointed with God when the answer to our prayers is not what we'd hoped.

But who is the disappointing one here? The Lord or us? Is His response "A few things are possible for him who believes" or is it a more forceful answer?

Why then do we believe for so little? Why do we let our eyes tell us what is real rather than letting Christ reign?

In my post about the miraculous stories surrounding the revival occurring in India, a commenter said that she longed for them to be true. That broke my heart. I think it should break the heart of every person in America who claims to be a Christian. What's so damning about the truth behind that statement is that it doesn't have to be that way. We don't have to settle for crumbs from the Master's table. Adding the qualifier "if" is the primary reason we are where we are.

The father of the boy answers Jesus one verse later:

Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"
—Mark 9:24

Immediately. Did we catch that? The father knew he'd underestimated Jesus and immediately saved face. His petition is instructional.

How much do we believe for great things from God? Shouldn't our daily prayer be that Christ in His fullness overcome our unbelief? Or are we content with Jesus looking into our eyes and wondering how we can believe for so little?

If Jesus can? Of course, He can!

The Horror of Spiritual Disciplines!

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At the Foot of the CrossOne of the most curious trends in the Godblogosphere so far this year is the utter pummeling that "spiritual disciplines" are taking along with the people who are promoting them. I've lost track of the number of both unknown and well-regarded pastors (and their followers) writing on the topic of how proponents of the spiritual disciplines are part of a vast New Age conspiracy that will culminate in outright apostasy.

Before we go any further, let's list the spiritual disciplines that have got so many people saying they're the toe in the antichrist's bathwater:

Meditation
Prayer
Fasting
Study
Simplicity
Solitude
Submission
Service
Confession
Worship
Guidance
Celebration

Scary list, huh? And yet it has some people tearing their hair out. I won't list who those people and ministries are because I'm not willing to commit the same sort of guilt by association that so readily flows from some of these sources. What bothers me, at least as the critics stand, is that none of them are attempting to ask whether the disciplines are Scriptural or not.

Are they? For most of the following, I'll attempt to list one reference each from the Old Testament, a Gospel, and an Epistle:

Meditation

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. (Joshua 1:8 ESV)

I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands. (Psalms 143:5 ESV)

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Philippians 4:8 ESV)

Prayer

Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you [God] at a time when you may be found…. (Psalms 32:6a ESV)

And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith. (Matthew 21:22 ESV)

…pray without ceasing…. (1 Thessalonians 5:17 ESV)

Fasting

For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me. When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach. (Psalms 69:9-10 ESV)

And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6:16-18 ESV)

And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. (Acts 14:23 ESV)

Study

You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments. I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules. I will keep your statutes; do not utterly forsake me! How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. (Psalms 119:4-11 ESV)

But [Jesus] answered, "It is written, "'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" (Matthew 4:4 ESV)

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15 ESV)

Simplicity

If I have made gold my trust or called fine gold my confidence, if I have rejoiced because my wealth was abundant or because my hand had found much, if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor, and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand, this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have been false to God above. (Job 31:24-28 ESV)

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21 ESV)

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." (Hebrews 13:5 ESV)

Solitude

Be still, and know that I am God…. (Psalms 46:10a ESV)

But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6:6 ESV)

And after [Jesus] had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone…. (Matthew 14:23 ESV)

Submission

Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground! (Psalms 143:10 ESV)

And he called to him the crowd with his disciples and said to them, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. (Mark 8:34 ESV)

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7 ESV)

Service

And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul…. (Deuteronomy 10:12 ESV)

If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. (John 12:26 ESV)

So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. (Galatians 6:10 ESV)

Confession

I confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin. (Psalms 38:18 ESV)

If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld. (John 20:23 ESV)

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. (James 5:16 ESV)

Worship

Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him! Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness…. (1 Chronicles 16:29 ESV)

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. (John 4:24 ESV)

Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. (Hebrews 13:15 ESV)

Guidance

Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long. (Psalms 25:5 ESV)

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. (John 16:13 ESV)

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. (James 1:5 ESV)

Celebration

Then [Nehemiah or Ezra]said to them, "Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." (Nehemiah 8:10 ESV)

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. (John 15:11 ESV)

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. (Philippians 4:4 ESV)

These things are indeed biblical as practiced. Anyone arguing against them faces an uphill (and unscriptural) battle. Sit down with a good study Bible (I use the Thompson Chain Reference) and check for yourself. In most cases, there are dozens or even hundreds of Scriptures that support each discipline.

Is it somehow hard to believe that the practice of these disciplines won't make a person a stronger, deeper disciple of Jesus Christ? Please, if you are reading this and believe that these spiritual disciplines will actually result in a weaker, shallower disciple, leave a comment and tell me why you believe that to be the case.

And now to the real beef…

The same proofs by which we say that the Bible is uniquely perfect among all books is the same proof that says that all other books are not perfect. Unless modern day Christian writers want to lay claim to their own perfect apostolic authority, then all books outside of the Scriptures contain errors, whether gross or minuscule. (By nature, all errors must be confronted with godly discernment. This is one reason why the Holy Spirit was given: to guide believers into all truth.) It doesn't matter if the book is written by John MacArthur or Richard Foster, it should be read always with one eye on the Scriptures and with one's heart illuminated by the Holy Spirit.

This is where I'm confused concerning the level of discernment practiced by those who are currently assaulting the spiritual disciplines outlined above. They call for discernment, but make blanket statements about those who are advocating the disciplines. Yes, they do a fine job of pointing out what is wrong with the doctrine of some of those advocates, but at the same time they show an appalling lack of discernment for the good in what those same advocates are saying. They act as if what is good is simply what is "not bad," but that's a damningly low opinion of what God has said is good.

We know that the disciplines are biblical, but are there ways to botch their practice? Sure! Any good thing can be muddied. Let's face it, Satan only tries to attack the very best things of God. You can bet that if there's a counterfeit the Enemy's manufactured, God's real version is gloriously wonderful. What I find disturbing is that the current critics of the spiritual disciplines are doing a horrendous job communicating the difference to people, lumping everything—good or bad—into one confusing pile that does nothing but stymie people who are genuinely looking to grow in the Lord.

I'm also confused by the conspiratorial picking and choosing that goes on by some of these critics, drawing lines of connection from one advocate to another in a bizarre game of "Six Degrees of Separation," seeking to create some sort of Last Days corporate hierarchy of apostasy. I'm baffled, though, by their choices of who constitutes the "good guys" and who the "bad guys." Richard Foster and Dallas Willard are perpetually held up for derision for quoting "mystics" who practiced spiritual disciplines (there's that guilt by association again, no discernment needed) while the critics quote A.W. Tozer's comments on discerning truth from error as we head to the End. Foster and Willard get lambasted, while Tozer—who was a strong supporter of Christian mysticism— is used by the critics in their arguments against the disciplines and their advocates. It's the height of hypocrisy if the critics own standards are used to tie them into a mystic like Tozer. Will the last non-heretic left standing please turn out the light?

I continue to be stunned at the lousy state of discernment in the Western Church today. Whether it's a complete lack of discernment, esoteric arguments for/against that no one can understand, guilt assigned by six degrees of separation, or the random picking of what constitutes good and bad—well, the whole state of it all, advocates or critics, has just gotten silly. And when the Church looks silly, the world just goes to hell faster.

I'm not suggesting that people go panning for gold in fields of manure, but neither am I for straining for gnats and swallowing camels. The frenzied fear that many of the critics sell by their inability to sort out the good from the bad in what people say is sad. All it does is make people paranoid; the last time I looked, paranoia was not a spiritual gift!

I'm no apologist for Foster or any of the other folks advocating the disciplines, but like all authors I read, I read them with a critical eye, swallowing the big chunks of truth they might speak while spitting out the questionable bones. And isn't that how any follower of Christ should approach any message from anyone?

No one said that discernment is easy, but neither is it haphazard.

Tags: Spiritual Disciplines, Church, Faith, Christianity, Jesus, God

“‘Word of Faith’ Stupidity” or “Standing on the Promises”?

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Ha! Ha! I Named It and Claimed It! Certain memes travel around the Godblogosphere in curious outbreaks. It’s as if a dozen people at once blog on the same subject without any prior knowledge of each other’s posts. Someone like me who reads blogs via an aggregator sees the impression of oddness double when so many of my regular reads are talking about the same point of doctrine.

Recently, there’s been a rash of Word-of-Faith postings out there, most of them negative. Brad at The Broken Messenger and Steve Camp at Camp on This are two that recently addressed this topic, Brad with “Word of Faith” and Steve with “Stupid People in the Church…and How Not to Be One.” I suspect that their reaction must be to the recently posted list of 50 most influential Christians that was curiously stacked with a large number of Word of Faith’ers. (Perhaps those on the list are being blessed the way they pray they will be! – Ha! Ha!)

I’ll come right out an say that I’m not a Word-of-Faith guy even though I go to a Pentecostal church, a familiar haunt for such folks. I regularly “must…restrain…the fist…of death” when listening to prosperity Gospel acolytes, but I’m also perturbed when I read something on the other side of the fence that seems resigned to whatever fate one has befallen. Steve Camp here:

What is the N.T. formula for “success” or “prosperity?” Paul gives us the clear biblical answer in 1 Timothy 6:6, “…godliness, plus contentment is great gain.” Are you living a godly life in accordance with the Word of God; are you content with what you have from the Lord—not seeking more or complaining of less? Then the Lord calls that, “great gain.”

I’m not sure an entire theology of God’s provision can be wrapped up in a portion of one verse. I’m sure that Steve Camp would tend to agree with that point. But what of his argument then? First of all, I think there’s “contentment” and then there’s “contentment with exception.”

A survey of the Bible contains person after person who cherished God, but there were a few lacks in their lives and they sought God to change their situations. One obvious example is Hannah. Barren and desperate for a child, she pleads before God and He blesses her with the future great leader of His people, Samuel. We saw the same request earlier in Rachel, likewise barren, who also petitioned God and was blessed with a son, Joseph, who grew up to save the lives of thousands, including his own family. And Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth, whose barren womb was opened to give Christ the Elijah that would prepare His way. Three women, none content in their childlessness.

Samson was not content with his role as a blind Philistine toy, but prayed to God that he would be granted one last curtain call, and with it he brought the house down—literally. Solomon was not content with his position as king as long as he was lacking the one thing he knew he needed to govern, wisdom. Jacob was not content with the wife he’d been fooled into accepting. If Lot had been 100% content with his lot, would he have fled Sodom at the Lord’s urging? Would Paul have cast out the spirit of divination from the slave girl who followed him around in Acts 16? Would the centurion have asked Jesus to heal his slave? Or Mary and Martha requested that Jesus come see their dying brother?

Lack of contentment, in many cases, is what drove great men and women of the Bible to pray big prayers and expect big things. But even the nameless people were not always content with their station in life. Lepers, the blind, and the lame all came to Jesus and asked for healing because they were not content with being infirm or diseased the rest of their days. Contentment does not mean resignation, but too often I see Christians treating it as if it were such. Being content means always keeping our eyes fixed on Christ, but it does not mean being a doormat for every lousy happenstance that comes our way. As Jesus Himself said:

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
—Matthew 7:7-11 ESV

I think the lesson here is that God is not against us petitioning Him because of a heart longing. John Knox in his zeal for souls went so far as to pray, “Give me Scotland or I die!” That doesn’t sound like someone who’s perfectly content. God honored Knox’s bold discontent.

I don’t believe the only kind of prayer that God answers is one for salvation for others, though. As I noted above, Christ healed and gave us the gift of healing. There’d be no reason for such a gift if people were to always be satisfied with illness. It seems to me that too many of us take God’s promises too lightly. We say that we believe the Bible, but then we start making excuses when it comes to certain promises. However, promises of God are not to be taken lightly. Take for instance the following:

You [God] keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
—Isaiah 26:3 ESV

Simple, right? Who out there does not believe this verse? Now what about this?

Who is like the LORD our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth? He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people. He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the LORD!
—Psalms 113:5-9 ESV

Much harder, right? Do we believe that God raises the poor up to sit with princes? Do we believe that God gives the barren woman children? Why are we so quick to believe the promise in Isaiah 26 and not the promise in Psalm 113? Did that passage pass away with the coming of the New Testament? Should we chuck the Old Testament because the New replaced it entirely and it no longer contains the accurate truth about what God promises? Certainly not!

I said earlier that there was a difference between contentment and contentment with exceptions, and this is the key to knowing what to ask God for and how. The state of one’s heart must always be centered on Christ or else what we ask for is meaningless. As James writes:

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
—James 4:1-3 ESV

Paul’s infamous thorn in the flesh is allowed to continue for the very reason that it kept him from becoming too prideful, what with all the amazing visions and healings that happened around him. So even a man of God as extraordinary as Paul can fall prey to passions that can undo him, just as James notes. Pride may have always been Paul’s chink in the armor, given that he was highly educated, a Pharisee, and a Roman citizen, all distinctly lacking in the other apostles.

So I don’t believe that Paul’s thorn is a prooftext for claiming that all requests for personal help go unanswered. Too many people claim just that and they derail the kind of faith that believes God’s promises as they are written. The Word of Faith’ers stumble because they often fall prey to what James describes. Nor are they always asking with their eyes on Jesus alone. Yet as much as their antics are a disgrace, they do a better job than some of us at taking God at His word.

In conclusion, the hymn “Standing on the Promises of God” and an appropriate promise of God:

Standing on the promises of Christ my King,
Through eternal ages let His praises ring,
Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing,
Standing on the promises of God.

Standing, standing,
Standing on the promises of God my Savior;
Standing, standing,
I’m standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises I now can see
Perfect, present cleansing in the blood for me;
Standing in the liberty where Christ makes free,
Standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord,
Bound to Him eternally by love’s strong cord,
Overcoming daily with the Spirit’s sword,
Standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises I cannot fall,
Listening every moment to the Spirit’s call
Resting in my Savior as my all in all,
Standing on the promises of God.

God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
—Numbers 23:19 ESV