God's Purpose

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)

...for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls. (Romans 9:11)

I see a direct link between these verses and others in Romans that refer to God's purpose. I think the main thrust of chapter 9 is to re-emphasize the point that God's purpose and plans are originated from Him and not from anything we try to do to impress Him or anything we might do in rebellion against Him.

This is not the same thing as God manipulating our choices. Just because God knows ahead of time what we will choose and takes that into account in His plans does not justify charges of Him forcing us to make those choices. He simply has the advantage of access to all information both past and future from which to form His plans, unlike any other being in the universe. That means that His plans and purposes are never caught by surprise or thwarted by anything anyone does because their choices and actions were already taken into account in the creation of His plans.

So from our perspective life and time are just a continual unfolding of, a revealing of God's incredible ability to coordinate everything together perfectly. The basis underlying all His purposes and plans is the comprehensive love described at the end of chapter 8. All of His purposes are always consistent with love as well as foreknowledge. And none of this is dependent in any way or can be changed in any way by our “works”, our attempts to impress or anger Him, or anything else we may do, not because it does not matter to Him or because He is arbitrary but because His purpose already took everything about us into account ahead of time.

Some may conclude that this robs us of all freedom. But that is because we may have skewed ideas of what freedom really is. Maybe we think freedom is the ability to out-maneuver someone else, to surprise them with our originality, or to be completely independent of them in every respect. But that would be absolutely impossible in relation to God because He is the only source that keeps everything and everyone alive. To attempt to live completely independent of God is to cease to live altogether, and that certainly is not in line with our idea or God's idea of freedom.

God is certainly very protective of freedom, far more than any of us ever thought of being. Our notions of freedom are akin to abject slavery when compared to God's plans and concepts of true freedom. Real freedom is not total independence but is total fulfillment; it is living in perfect harmony with our original design so that we experience the most joy and love and harmony possible with all other created beings and with all the natural principles of the universe. That is the kind of true freedom that God has in store for those who respond to His invitation to get real in His presence. (see my translation from the Greek on Romans 8:28)

So the core issue that Paul is again addressing that he has been visiting repeatedly throughout Romans thus far is the fact that our religious activities or performance are not the foundation for our relationship with God but God's mercy and compassion and everything that God has done in order to save as many as possible. No one will be lost because they did not perform enough religion or could not figure out the right “formula” or didn't acquire enough information to pass the “great test”. No, those are not the criteria by which anyone will be saved in heaven or lost in hell. God has already put in place everything needed for us to be restored into a vital connection with the only Source of life.

Anyone who loses eternal life in the end – and unfortunately there will be many – are going to be those who cling to the lies about God in their hearts in resistance to the truth about Him at whatever level they are at in their understanding of Him. It is in repeatedly resisting the Spirit of God trying to convey the truth about God to our hearts until we have succeeded in hardening our hearts beyond our ability to respond that causes us to end up experiencing the the torture of hell. For it is only those who have responded and surrendered to the amazing love and compassion of our loving Creator to be transformed by that love back into their original design who will be safe to live in the fiery presence of unlimited Love and Passion.

This is the message that keeps coming out over and over again in the book of Romans and that I find as the key to unlocking the surface confusion in chapter 9. It must be in the context of this understanding of the big picture that we need to read the stories about Abraham, Esau and Jacob and Pharaoh mentioned in this chapter. The main thrust that Paul is trying to convey here is that it was not what these people did or did not do that determined God's plans. God does not make up His plans on the fly or in reaction to our choices and actions like we often do. That is because He already has that information ahead of time so His plans and purposes were in place before the foundation of the world.

What history and our present life is simply revealing is the unfolding of those plans throughout each generation. And it can be seen that in the unfolding of His plans is revealed the true nature of the One who formed those plans. But we need to bring the right paradigms to our study of these stories or we will seriously misinterpret the conclusions that these stories convey to us about God. We need the Spirit of God to teach and guide us and give us wisdom to know how to relate to the stories of those who have lived before us. Otherwise another spirit, a lying spirit will put an evil spin on everything we view and muddy the true picture of our loving, kind and consistent Heavenly Father.

One thing that must be clearly nailed down in this passage is the link between God's foreknowledge and His justice. Foreknowledge is not the same thing as control, though it is very often confused for that in our thinking and reasoning. It is very easy for us to buy into Satan's lie that it is impossible for God to be just if He knows ahead of time what our decisions are going to be. That is putting one characteristic of God in exclusive opposition to another characteristic, a favorite trick of the enemy of our souls to keep us in suspicion against God. When we are deceived by this kind of logic it then becomes very difficult to arrive at correct perceptions of God's word. This is the very issue that Paul is addressing in this chapter.

To get back to the stories used in this passage and their implications in our lives, who is it really who makes the decision as to what kind of vessels a person becomes on the molding wheel in God's pottery room? Let me go back and carefully look at the lessons that Paul is trying to make from each of these stories.

First of all he mentions the story of Abraham and his first two sons. The first-born son came about because of Sarah and Abraham's attempt to help out God illegitimately, to assist God in keeping His promises since it looked like God couldn't quite get it done on His own. God allowed them to do that even though the Jews and the rest of the Arab world are still duking it out to this very day as a result. But through the ensuing events God made it crystal clear that His covenant promises to Abraham, in fact His blessings destined for the whole world were going to come through the son who came about through their surrender to God in faith alone without any of their own schemes and plans mixed into the formula. In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring. (Romans 9:8 NIV)

The next illustration that Paul uses is that of Esau and Jacob. Paul uses two quotations attributed to God about these boys and I find it interesting that one of them is stated before they were born and the other is literally centuries after they had died. The second statement is one that we usually struggle with the most to reconcile with the way we are learning that God relates to us. How can it be that the God whose unstoppable love is described just before this in the end of chapter 8 can now say that He hates Esau? That seems like a very big obstacle to our faith and a very efficient excuse for discounting the idea of the unconditional love of God for sinners.

One simplistic possibility that could be applied is that God said this so long after the boys lives were over and the results of their choices were played out in the nations that they fathered that it would be easy for Him to say that He hated Esau and the people of Edom who became some of the worst enemies of the nation of Israel. But I can't buy into that kind of thinking either. Israel itself along with Jacob made a real mess of their relationship with God and did plenty of things that deserved a great deal of hatred if we are going to apply that kind of principle to the situation. No, I don't think that is a valid line of reasoning to use here.

The text itself gives us direction as to the truth that we need to see in this story. And that truth, in fact, is nearly the opposite of the conclusion above. Paul states emphatically that ... though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, ...God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls. (Romans 9:11)

In other words, the point I see emerging in Paul's explanations of these stories is that God does not make His plans in reaction to our choices or performance. We cannot manipulate God or surprise Him or control Him in any way since He has the foreknowledge of everything ahead of time. But still, He values freedom so much that His use of that foreknowledge is not abusive and manipulative but is simply a revelation of His infinite wisdom, love and grace.

And what about hating Esau? Again I believe that this is something that takes maturity to wrap our minds around and comprehend how it fits into the more clear exhibitions and explanations of God's nature and relations with His created beings. In my mind I see it going along the same line as the other lessons being explained in this passage. It is simply an acknowledgment of the emotional relationship that is seen between a particular person and God. Is it safe to say that God initiated this hatred based on this verse? I do not believe so. I don't believe that God wants to have a relationship of hatred with any of His children. But the fact is that there are many who choose to cling to their own hatred of God despite any and all attempts to remove it on the part of God and so the only way He can describe the relationship with that person is one of hatred, for it is the only one that that person will allow. It does not mean that the hatred originated in the heart of God or was imposed by Him. It is simply an acknowledgment of the end result of their choices about what to believe about Him.

(next in series)

Is God a Monster-maker?

I am trying to get to the bottom of the issues swirling around in Romans 9. One thing that comes to my attention is the issue of blame. It seems to me that when I read this my initial reaction to what I think it is saying is that it appears that God is to blame for Pharaoh's resistance to His power. And by extension it must be assumed that if that is true then God has to be blamed for many others, if not all, who resist God's overtures to them.

If I am real honest about this sequence of logic then I have to believe that the cruelty and defiance of Pharaoh was designed into him by his Creator who molded him to be the object of God's wrath; Pharaoh was set up to be the fall guy to make God look good. If that assumption is to be believed then it also stands to reason that other tyrants throughout history are likewise the creations of a diabolical Creator who shaped them in distorted ways to perpetrate their horrors on others so as to make God look good by contrast.

As horrible as this may sound, this is the unavoidable and logical conclusion if one is to believe what many religious authorities insist that Romans 9 is saying. But as I wrote about in my previous post, the assumptions that one brings to the reading of this passage have a great deal to do with what one finds here. Just camping on these words as a starting point for trying to understand how God relates to people and what He is like in character creates a great deal of tension and confusion if it is not viewed in the light of the gospel. But when the truth about God that is much more clearly presented in other passages is used to unpack this passage there will eventually be seen a unity and harmony and beauty that was never thought possible at first reading.

So one of the core questions that needs to be addressed head-on in striving to clarify this is the question already posed above. Is God a diabolical Creator who predestines some people to defy Him and become targets for His displays of angry, overwhelming force to make Him look better? Or is something else going on here that the enemy of God is afraid we will discover that will further unmask his crafty and complex lies about God and expose us more fully to the perfect consistency of God's never-ending love? Is God a monster who is afraid we will find out the truth about Him and keeps us quiet with His intimidations or are these all classic symptoms of the professional liar who is determined to make God look like his own fiendish character?

The belief that we think this passage supports will determine and effect all of our other beliefs about God. Beliefs have to fit together and be congruent with each other or they are useless and worthless except to fill up empty space. Beliefs have to be tested by following them to their logical conclusions to see what direction they are leading us. Sometimes our assumptions may deceive us as to how to trace something to its logical conclusion and we have to challenge those assumptions as well. But in this case I think it is rather clear that to accept what appears on the surface to be a description of a controlling, manipulative God who deliberately and intentionally designs some people to be lost and to wreak havoc on others in the process is completely contradictory to everything else that I have been learning about God.

So since I have to believe that this kind of conclusion is completely incompatible with the rest of Scripture and truth then I have to take a much closer look at this passage and uncover what the real meaning is and the original intention of the author. I think I am already starting to see some interesting light while sorting through the false assumptions and I want to keep digging for the gems that I am sure are waiting to be discovered here.

(next in series)

Is God Unjust?

What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! (Romans 9:14)

I am finding my study of Romans 9 to be stimulating, enlightening, challenging and productive. It is helping me to face more of my misconceptions about God and some of the assumptions and inconsistencies I have inherited from mainstream religion that needs to be exposed and challenged.

When I looked at this verse this morning I began to remember some of the problematic reasoning that I have been taught over the years. Typically, if we ran across a passage that seemed to conflict with our preconceived ideas about God, that passage or word was simply forced into the preexisting mold of our established belief. This very often lead to quite a strain in distorted reasoning and the necessity to assign different meanings to many of the words used in religion.

I still believe that it is necessary to view things in the light of preconceived ideas about God. In fact, preconceptions are quite unavoidable in our thinking. The problem arises when we are unwilling to continually challenge our preconceptions in the light of expanding truth revealed to us about God by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Real truth is never afraid of close examination. But tradition and subtle errors in our thinking about God's character and our own condition often lead to bending and forcing the Word of God to fit what we think we want to believe. This is often propped up by “proof-texting” where we string together a number of somewhat disparate verses that sound plausible in that particular arrangement to support our own ideas or those we have inherited. This also sometimes necessitates clinging to a certain outdated wording found in only one version of the Bible and so we attack any and all alternatives as a threat to our pet theories. To me this is a sure sign of a bitter and poisonous spirit that closes many hearts against the true Spirit of God.

The kind of preconceived ideas of God that need to be the filter through which we view the rest of Scripture needs to be the life, example and teachings of Jesus who is declared to be the perfect revelation of God to the universe. So if an idea or belief is found to be inconsistent with the life and example of Jesus, it must be the belief that comes under suspicion, not the Son of God. This is the only safe way to read the Bible if I want to grow in grace and in a true knowledge of God.

Romans 9 may be a classic example of this kind of problem. I observe several different ways of approaching this passage to resolve the apparent discrepancies that at first cause our minds and hearts discomfort in these verses.

First, upon reading this we could simply refer immediately back to what we already assume about how God treats us and then try to force everything else to fit that belief, particularly the idea that God is arbitrary in choosing who will be used for His glory and who will be used as objects of His wrath (read human-like anger and vengeful spite). Given that presupposition, when we read the above text that God is not unjust, we simply force our concept of what justice is to include an arbitrary God who is Sovereign and cannot be questioned or understood at all. We just have to live with His predetermination and hope that somehow we turn up in the right group so we can get saved.

There is actually a very large number of Christians that subscribe to this line of thinking. And there are many more who use this kind of logic though they may be uncomfortable with the logical conclusions arrived at by this reasoning. The bottom line for these people is usually the emphatic insistence that we should not think very hard about this or try to understand it with our reasoning for that will only put us at odds with a powerful God who might get upset about our resistance and then use us as examples of His “wrath”.

Then there are those who simply cannot force their minds to accept this picture of God because it is so incompatible with their innate sense of justice. They are unwilling to force the idea of justice to that level of distortion and so they choose some other alternative like rejecting the existence of God altogether. I believe this reaction may be much more pervasive than is seen on the surface. Not only those who openly reject the idea of God may feel this way but many who conform to religious dogma on the surface secretly hold to these feelings as well. They just don't advertise that fact so that they will not become targets for those who want to be the thought police for God's people.

Actually, the souls who find a great deal of uneasiness with the notion of an arbitrary God may be much closer to responding to the real Spirit of God than the more virulently religious. I believe that in very many hearts, the rejection of God is a protest against the lies about God that have been broadcast wholesale by most of religion for centuries. I believe that rejecting these lies about God is not so much an act of rebellion against God but a protest against injustice that was legitimately implanted in their hearts by the very God they think they are protesting against. We would all do well to reject a god like that, for any ideas of an arbitrary god who is fickle and selfish and seems to delight in outbursts of vengeful wrath to vent his emotions is really a description of the enemy of God, not the true God of heaven. So in reality, many are actually rejecting Satan's distortions of God as promoted by most religions, not the reality of God.

I strongly believe that Romans 9 cannot be understood properly or benefited from without using the filters of preconceptions gained from a previous and careful look at the heart of Jesus and how He related to people. That filter needs to be firmly in place before one can arrive at safe conclusions when dealing with confusing passages like this. But that is not to say that this passage is somehow false or even necessarily misleading. When viewed through the right lenses I believe there will be found here wonderful revelations about God that may have remained hidden from our view under the confusion that appears on the surface. If we are willing to first examine our glasses and get them clean and focused properly, we can then be delighted and amazed at what clarity and beauty will be able to be seen while reading these verses.

I do not believe that it is incidental that this verse is placed where it is in the text. It is a very emphatic statement that must be kept clear in our mind as the context for everything read in the surrounding and following verses. Whatever Paul is trying to say and no matter how awkward it is said, it has to conform to the indisputable reality that God is just. And in the process of applying this standard to the surrounding passages we must also not compromise what constitutes justice itself. If we want to see the beauty and the truth hidden in this chapter we have to keep the light of justice untainted while we examine other verses that seem to contradict that declaration. And if we want to know what justice looks like, we must understand it from the life and teachings of the only just Person who ever lived on this earth.

This seems to be a tool that Paul uses throughout his writings. When he wants to state something that is going to seem contradictory or confusing he will include very emphatic declarations like this to use as anchors that we must stay connected to while he takes us on a tour through the surrounding swirling waters. It we stay connected to the anchor we can be safe and will enjoy the ride much more. If we get trapped in the intensity of the surrounding turbulence without staying firmly linked to the anchors he secured for us, we will end up with all sorts of troubling and distorted conclusions that will only muddy the waters as we drag along the bottom and stir up the filth and lies about God that pollute the pristine waters of truth.

So whatever this chapter is trying to reveal to me it must be understood in the context of a just God. And justice is incompatible with arbitrariness. God is absolutely adamant in His insistence on real freedom for the will of all His creatures. To do anything otherwise would be to violate His very essence which is love. Love can only truly exist and flourish in the pure atmosphere of freedom. And freedom necessarily involves the option of choosing to reject or to respond to love without coercion. Whatever else I draw as conclusions from this passage must be consistent with this understanding of God or it will undermine the most important truths about God that will eventually lead to a total distortion and rejection of Him.

(next in series)

A Fallen Comrade

A good friend is with me no more on this earth. He passed away sometime during the night last night after two weeks without food or water. It was difficult to watch him decline during that time but I was also amazed at his determination for independence and his display of loyalty and love to the very end.

We never heard him complain during his last days. Instead, every time I came close to him he would respond with immediate affection and enjoy my presence. When he could summon up enough strength he would walk around to find me or follow me so he could be close to me. Even when he could hardly raise his head off the floor he would reach out to hold me and talk softly to me. Yes, it was hard to see him go.

He has been a very close friend and wonderful comrade for many years. He has been unusually devoted to me and even more so in his last few years. While never losing his unique personality he became very attached to me for whatever reason and has given me many years of loyal friendship and wonderful entertainment.

I remember when he first came to our home and joined our family. He was very frightened and insecure and immediately disappeared under our couch not to be seen again for nearly two days. After that he ventured out to explore our small house and get acquainted with his new “siblings”. It was not long before he became a classic ham, creating enough humor and entertainment with his funny, laid-back ways to keep me in stitches at times.

I particularly remember the times when he would be laying on a library table enjoying the sunshine in front of our living room window. He would become so completely relaxed that he would slowly begin to slide off the edge of the table like molasses pouring over the edge. But unlike the usual behavior for a feline he would simply allow himself to completely slide off the table and fall unceremoniously on the floor without even attempting to catch himself. I found this so funny that I could hardly quit laughing which is a very good thing for my health since I seldom get enough of that therapy.

Over the years he has made three moves with us to new houses. In the second house he shared with us he decided to go off on his own adventures for a number of days which caused me a great deal of consternation. It was at this point that I came to an intense consciousness of how much I cared for him. I could not escape my worrying about what might have become of him but there was nothing more I could think of to do. We had created signs with this picture on them and posted them around the community and I finally had to face the fact that I had to turn all of my feelings and fears over to God and release them or I would not be able to function or even hardly sleep. I began to realize that George was just a gift from God to me and that I had to allow God to be responsible for looking out for both me and for my beloved cat.

It was very shortly after I accepted that important lesson that he showed up quite nonchalantly on our front lawn after we had just combed much of the area looking for him and putting up posters. He acted as though nothing was out of the ordinary and seemed to wonder what all the fuss was about. We immediately escorted him back into the house and tried to keep a much closer eye on the outside doors from then on so he wouldn't slip past us and escape again.

The reason we could not let him out was because when he came to us he had already been de-clawed by his former owners. They had been living in some university apartments and were trying to keep him until they could finish school even though it was against the rules to have pets in the apartments. However, one day someone spotted him sitting in the front window and reported them as “violators” so they quickly brought him over to our house before he could be arrested and deported. That is how George came to become one of the most memorable “children” we have had over the years.

When he first came to us he had been called by various names which I cannot now recall. None of them seemed to fit his personality and I began to wonder what his name really was. As I watched him the name George began to present itself for a number of reasons. He was at times very curious, “curious George”. At other times he seemed rather aloof and disdainful, “King George”, I thought. And at other times he was simply a good friend, just “good ole' George”.

After that episode of losing him for several days and receiving him back, I felt compelled to sit down and capture my feelings on paper and condense the lessons I was learning into language. I kept that writing as an important reminder to me of my need to hold more loosely to the gifts that God blesses me with than I hold onto Him personally, and learn to trust the giver more than clinging to the gift.

Over the years for whatever reasons George seemed to form a special bond with me. We were able to read each other's minds and began to care more deeply for each other. Looking back over all these years with him it is now much more clear to me that God brought George into our home to share a little bit of Himself with us through one of his special friends. I have seen so many attributes in George that I would like to emulate, things that are weaknesses in my life that need to change, areas that I need to grow and strengthen in my relationships with others.

Though George had a very individual personality that baffled many people, he became very loyal to me and over the last few years exhibited more and more unconditional love toward me. This became rather obvious to many others and I realized that I too wanted to learn to love others with that kind of unfailing devotion that I was receiving from him. I came to realize that George's devotion for me was putting my own shallow care for others to shame. There have been many times over the past few months that I have been sometimes almost in awe as I saw traits of behavior that corresponded to the fresh and wonderful things I have been learning about God in my personal study and experience. I could not deny that God was often speaking to my heart through this very special cat that He had given me. And I also have no doubt that that same God will someday bring us back together to enjoy eternity celebrating life together that will never again be spoiled by disease, pain, sorrow and death.

There have been times over the past few weeks that I began to feel very sad as I watched him get weaker and weaker. But then the thought would occur to me that I needed to focus more on enjoying the fact that he was still alive and still loving me instead of spoiling the brief time we had left together mourning his loss before he was actually gone. I would then simply live in the present moment and relish the affection that he was so ready to give to me. Those were such special moments to me that I could not describe them very well with words. They were moments of the heart.

Quite sadly I was not able to be there for him in his last hours. In many ways his last days reminded me of the last days of my own Dad's life a couple of years ago. I am sometimes confused as to how my brain processes these sorts of events. It seems that I do not follow the typical patterns of grieving like most people do. I suppose that has a number of reasons and I'm not sure how to relate to that. It seems that my most intense – but very short – moments of grief come in flashes of anticipation long before the actual death occurs. But then as the real event comes near and transpires my mind seems to feel almost unaffected or disconnected a little bit. I could come up with all sorts of attempted explanations for that that may or may not be true or helpful, but it does seem to be a pattern that repeats itself in my life.

I am certainly glad, however, that I truly believe in a God of goodness, power and love whom I am confident has some very incredible plans to diffuse all the pain and sorrow that death has caused us. I am eagerly looking forward to a resurrection where I fully intend to reunite with my parents and others that have been taken away from my life. And while there may be serious reservations in the minds of others about what will happen to our pets that we have lost, I am settled in my confidence that because God is the way He is that He has some very exciting and possibly interesting plans to bring back all the important relationships that sin has ripped away from our affections including our pets. There is enough solid evidence about how God feels about all the creatures He has created, in addition to His faithfulness to care for even the little things that affect our lives that I rest in total confidence in someday enjoying spending a lot more quality time with one of the best friends I have ever had, my beloved George.

For those of you who are simply baffled by the affections that a grown man may have for a cat – well, all I can say is that I feel sorry for you. You may have other strong points that I am lacking, but you are missing a very important quality of soul that somehow I have been able to enjoy to some extent. And while I am probably lacking in far more social skills and character attributes than I am blessed with, I have been blessed to share my life with a long line of pet cats and dogs that have been an important part of living for me. I have also been blessed with a wife who, compared to me is almost an extremist in this area. If I don't restrain her we might likely be living in a very large cat-farm with little money left for ourselves. Well, that may not be very nice to say and is likely a male exaggeration to some extent, but you get the idea I suppose.

So I will miss George for the time being. But I have grown and learned from him and will always have the memories and pictures, if not in my hands, in my heart. I loved George very much. He taught me more about love and life and living, and I thank God for the years we shared together.

Good-bye, comrade. And I plan to see you again, hopefully in the not too distant future God willing.

Definition of Overcomer

Jacob was wrestling with his false concept of God while God provided the “straw man” for him to wrestle with until he overcame the lies about God in his mind.

The same will have to happen for everyone who goes through a similar “time of Jacob's trouble”.

At the end of his struggle the supernatural Messenger gave him a new name which meant “overcomer”. According to Revelation, we become overcomers by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony. What does this really mean?

When we grasp the truth about God, the true revelation of His character through a correct understanding of what God was trying to convey to us by dying on the cross and and allowing us to shed His own blood, we will be transformed and empowered to see sin as repulsive and will reject it ourselves. Then as we confess what has been revealed to us about God with our mouth and give thanks for who He really is our minds and hearts become synchronized and locked into a true perception of God and we overcome our false beliefs about Him. When that takes place we will live in a vital relationship with Him and will reflect His beauty, humility, compassion and completely selfless love. That is our testimony about God. That is what an overcomer is, not one who determinedly keeps the seventh-day Sabbath and believes the truth about the state of the dead in defiance of men's laws.

Those who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus is the same as speaking according to the Law and to the testimony. These are in contrast to those who are agents of evil spirits who peep and mutter and utter all sorts of false ideas about God. (see the context of this reference)

The commandments of God are the principles of God's ways of operating, the left-brain facts upon which the universe is founded. The faith of Jesus is our heart connection with God, the vital connection that links our right brain/heart to God's heart.

Judas was addicted to force, as was all the other disciples. But Judas refused any alternative to his religion of force to the point of using it against Jesus in an attempt to force Him to become King through his presumed resistance to being arrested. When instead Jesus revealed His true character of humility, meekness and forgiving kindness in the face of overwhelming force and meanness, Judas saw his own selfishness exposed in the process and could no longer live with himself. He was experiencing hell and had to die to escape the inner pain and dissonance.

Peter too was very addicted to force. He too tried to employ force in his own way by using the sword to begin the revolution that Judas was trying to start. He was very close to following the same route as Judas, but he had allowed his heart to become attached enough to Jesus that he was saved from completely giving up and killing himself as well. The kindness of God led him to repentance instead of total despair and suicide, although after the resurrection Jesus had to meet with him privately to bring him out of paralyzing despondency and self-loathing fear. It not, he too may have followed the path of Judas to suicide.

These two men had both been referred to by Jesus using Satan's name. Judas was identified quietly as a devil and Jesus had openly confronted Peter with a rebuke to “Satan”. The spirit that primarily identifies the character of Satan is that of force. It is the “strange fire” that God was so adamant about in the Old Testament that His people not bring into His sanctuary. When we try to mix the use of force with God's ways we create a false religion that deceives people into believing the Lie about God created by Satan himself. It is a deadly mix for anyone attempting to create this mixture as Nadab and Abihu found out the hard way. (see Lev. 10)

Fire is the very essence of God and is the passion of His selfless love and character. God is always the same – He never changes despite our opinions to the contrary. He is humble, meek, loving, patient, kind, compassionate, forgiving, merciful and far more intense than we will ever be able to imagine. He never employs force to overcome any of His creature's freedom of will and choice to serve and love Him. He has been misunderstood by many of His representatives and has been drawn into displaying power on their behalf when He would rather have done things differently, but that does not change His inherent character. It only muddied the picture and created yet another opportunity for people to misunderstand Him even at the hands of some of His most famous servants.

But those displays of power did not accomplish what those servants had hoped – the changing of people's hearts to love and cherish their God. It only got them to pay attention and respect His great power more astutely. Are these methods of trying to win souls for God a mixing of the strange fire of human passion and force with God's fire of pure, selfless passionate love?

The penchant for displays of power and the desire to use force is the spirit of the kingdom of darkness. Whenever the devil is mentioned in the Bible it revolves around the three things that make up his spirit: fear, falsehood and force. God's kingdom is diametrically opposite of these things and we must learn to not attempt to mix any of Satan's weapons or methods in with God's ways.

Likewise we have to learn the lesson internally that we cannot become overcomers by mixing our own human passions with the passion of God in our heart to live a righteous life. We must not employ force to bring about righteousness, even in our own lives. “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, ...work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12-13) God's Spirit burning like a nuclear reactor inside of our hearts must be the pure and holy passion that powers our lives, our words, our actions and permeates our spirit. If we try to add a little good-looking, righteous-sounding passion of our own we will contaminate the witness of God's work in our hearts and will misrepresent Him before others. The process of sanctification means letting go of our own ideas, our addictions to power and force, our false notions about God and all of our fears and instead, growing in grace and maturity into the perfect relationship with Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, Savior and Lover.

Isa. 28:21 talks about God's “strange work” and His “strange act”. I believe there may a connection between His strange work and the strange fire that He warns us against. Whenever strange fire comes into the presence of God it causes the death of the person possessing it. Death is a strange thing to God who is the Source of all life. So for death to be the result of coming in contact with life is indeed strange – but very true.