@ESHunt@Revelife made an amazing statement on Idolatry as a comment to one of my xanga posts from Yesterday.  Ironically, I was forced into defining Idolatry today when a "christian" I know redefined outside of biblical interpretations and actually left it open so that a Muslim could actively assume to "practice the presence of God" in their lives... and be right before God, because by their definition... it wouldn't be idolatry.   Here's the conversation bits that are relevant.  I am protecting this person's identity, so as not to malign them publically.  I still honestly pray that this person comes to a point of realizing their sinful attitude toward the Word of God and repents... maybe you all could pray with me on that.

MH@FB Facebook Status  --- It makes me mad when evangelical missionaries move to Catholic areas specifically to evangelize Catholics. That means that evangelical Christianity is the only valid forum of Christianity; never mind that the evangelical church is just as imperfect as the catholic church.

Wayne --- It iritates me when Christians show such a disrespect for what the issues of the reformation were.... and assume that the issues of that day and age don't apply to today.  So that when the Pope speaks "Ex Cathedra" (In the place of God) --- we evangelicals are supposed to think that's quaint and proper.

Sorry.... to God, that's Idolatry.... and it reeks of a whole system of idolatry, from the re-constructed preisthood with it's reinstituted blood sacrifice all the way to confessing your sins to man (not God) and seeking absolution of those sins from man (not God).

Our day and age really needs to learn to discern.

Wayne (This was said as a private message to this person, but they quote from it, so I bring it up here) --- There's a huge --- H-U-G-E --- difference between being imperfect, and being idolatrous. God works through our imperfections --- but God will not tolerate idolatry.

You honestly need to review the issues far better, my friend, because placing the Catholic Church on the same level as the Evangelical Church shows plainly that you don't understand them in the least.

I mean that.

MH@FB  ---  well evangelical Christianity is changing, your right. People are challenging the church on heaven/hell/universalism, marriage equality, and on down the line. And that's only going to bring in more tension as the leaders try to hone in on evangelizing all the "lost" people around the world while others disagree that they need to be evangelized too.

Wayne ---    I'm of the opinion that truth is an absolute, and you know that. Much of what passes as "christianity" (small 'c') today really falls under the category of the Laodecian Church. This all harkens back to my blog post from 4 years ago "Is your Jesus Real". Cause, anything that isn't the straight forward biblical presentation of Jesus is merely idolatry to the eyes of God.

MH@FB  ---  Idolatry is simply anything that's in our lives that we practice in the place of practicing the presence of God. This is why evangelicals are just as guilty as Catholics. This is the condition of most of mankind. We fill our lives up with other people, and expect other people to meet our needs while "worshiping" God on the side. It may be easy to see that the Catholic is practicing idolatry because of the statue of virgin Mary, but how many evangelical Christians are living a life of worship and practicing the presence of God? Idolatry is the reason most Christians are missing the boat, living their lives plagued by anger and guilt and self-righteous I'm-better-than-everyone-else. Idolatry is the great sin of the church, evangelical included.

I have distanced myself from the evangelical church, not because I disagree with their doctrine (I believe Jesus is God), but because I now see that evangelicalism is penetrating pride and brokenness. Its simplifying the Christian life to a sinners prayer and doctrine. Instead I believe salvation is about learning to experience and practice the presence of God. Salvation is not a prayer. And back to the original post, Jesus never said, "go out and convert the world." Instead Christianity is about going and meeting other people flesh-to-flesh, and letting people experience the light and love. Its about giving people a piece of Christ, and letting them experience bits of His presence. (In turn, perhaps they too will want to practice the presence of God. But its not something we force with baptisms and "conversions.")

• Sidenote from me.... This statement was what led to my post "What being a Missionary DOESN'T mean...." and my comments on the Great Commission of Christ.   To this friend, we need not preach the gospel nor call men to repent of their sinfulness... for there is no Hell, God is love and certainly He would never reject something he's created....  Their statement  "Jesus never said, "go out and convert the world."...." directly contradicts Matthew 28:19-20, the great commission of Christ for us to make disciples of all men.

.... You said that God works through imperfection, not idolatry. I am saying that God works through both, ....

Where in the Bible does it say idolatry is only bowing in front of an idol? We are called to practice the presence of God. When we don't do that, and we put other things in God's place, its idolatry. I'm not sure why that's complicated or unbilbical. It is Biblical.

Wayne --- As to Idolatry:

Merriam Webster Dictionary states:

1 : the worship of a physical object as a god

2 : immoderate attachment or devotion to something

Seems to me the dictionary understands better than you do at the moment.

But lets take it a step further --- this is what the book of Exodus says plainly about Idolatry:

Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before me.” [First Commandment]

Exodus 20:23 “You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold.“

Exodus 23:24 “you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do [...]“

Here again we see that it is all about worship and placing something created in the place of God. (Hmmmm, Catholics worshiping Mary? Catholics worshiping the wafer in communion? Catholics worshiping saints? Interesting that all of these fit this discussion at this point....)

Let's look onward.

Paul writes in Romans 1

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

Seems here again we're talking about FALSE WORSHIP and creating something to TAKE THE PLACE OF the one true God.

Idolatry, as you have defined it would mean that any Buddhist (Note: Buddhists do not believe in a God, per se, so my addition of them here was a momentarily lapse of memory), any Muslim, any Hindu practicing "the presence of God" is not committing a sin, but rather worshiping rightly. That is as as false as it gets, my friend. Idolatry is, simply put, seeking to worship God in your own manner --- apart from the ways that He, Himself, has proscribed. This is why Jesus said plainly

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.

If you come to God APART FROM CHRIST... if you reject Christ as plainly presented in Scripture and seek to refashion him after your own ideas... You commit idolatry, and do not worship God (nor Christ), but rather demons, as Paul stated in 1 Corinthians 10:20 and further in Acts 17:22 when he rebuked the men of Athens for their own idolatry even while calling them "religious".

• Note: If you look at the Darby Translation, it actually uses the term "Demon Worship" here... the Greek word -- deisidaimonesterous -- actually carrying that sense in some ways.  Daimones is the greek word for "demon" and you can see it's in the heart of the word Paul uses in addressing the people of Athens.
  

You do not show that you honor God --- you show that you are his Enemy, just as Romans 5:10 and Colossians 1:21 reminds us we once were.

Idolatry isn't simply "NOT practicing the presence of God" --- it is seeking to worship God in your own manner, by your own fashion, in your own way, by your own rules... completely rebellious to all that God has carefully revealed about coming to him. Idolatry is as old as Cain presenting his offering and rejecting the way that Abel clearly understood. In short, Idolatry is rebellion against God, Christ and Scripture... and thus why God says that those who refuse to listen to His Word are an abomination before him. (Proverbs 28:9) This is why my status from 2 days ago read that the most common religion in the whole world is this: Idolatry --- and all men fall to it.

That was only PART OF the conversation from the last few days that has led to much of my last 3 posts / Facebook status updates.   I have to admit that much has been left out of this conversation, including other people's comments (both Christian and non-Christian), as it is presented here.  I simply pared away to only what fit the topic of Idolatry, and what defines it.    I hope this helps some of you out there in your own apologetic work.

Again, another one of my facebook status updates.  I've been dealing lately with a social gospel missionary who feels that we do not need to preach the gospel to reach the lost.   All we need to do is work to make this world a better place in Jesus name.  This brought about this comment from me, posted as a status update.

Missionary: Someone who cares enough to go out into the world to reach the lost, wherever they may be, with the life-changing message of the gospel. Someone who can cry out with Paul -- God forbid that I should preach anything other than Christ, and Him crucified.

Since when did "Missionary" become some form of mere social force attempting to make this a better world to live in?

Methinks that those bent on a social gospel have lost complete focus on what it means that Christ came "into this world to save sinners." (Luke 5:32; Mark 2:17; 1 Timothy 1:15) and his command to us to "Go out into the world and make disciples of all men." (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 1:8)

Seems all my facebook status's of late are deep theological treatise's on matters concerning the validity of Christianity.  Here's another one I'll add to my recent collection of posts here at Xanga.

There is "Truth" and it is as absolute as it is concrete and clear. God doesn't speak in puzzles and riddles and esoteric metaphors --- Neither has God waited 4000 years for you to be born so as to tell us what it all meant. Truth had meaning long before you came on the scene.

God has said plainly and clearly:

"Come now, let us reason together,”
says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool.
If you are willing and obedient,
you will eat the best from the land;
but if you resist and rebel,
you will be devoured by the sword.”
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. (Isaiah 1:18-20)

It is the pride of man which refuses to humble itself to God and insists to seek for hidden meanings and clever re-interpretations..... refusing to accept the straight-forward presentation and interpretation of what has been plainly written. And to this God has said two things:

God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble. (Proverbs 3:34 / James 4:6)

And

He who turns away his ear from hearing the law [of God and man], even his prayer is an abomination, hateful and revolting [to God]. (Proverbs 28:9 Amplified version) (See also Psalm 66:18 & Isaiah 1:15 regarding God not listening to your prayers)

Those who persist in twisting Scripture to their own preferences, likes and bias do so to their own destruction....

There is a way that seems right to a man, but it's end only leads to destruction. (Proverbs 14:12)

Trust in the Lord with all of your heart
and lean not on your own understanding
Acknowledge Him in all that you do,
And God will walk with you through all that you face. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

I followed that status update up with this sole comment which is in summary and explains the title of this post.

In short: God doesn't award prizes for the most clever interpretation of the Bible --- He only awards those who diligently seek to listen and obey what it plainly says.

This is merely a reposting of my thoughts from Facebook yesterday.   These are my own thoughts, I did not borrow them or lift them from some other source.  I post them here with the hopes that they cause some of you out there to pause and reflect.

This is merely a repost of my own thoughts as I presented them at Facebook just now.  I thought they would be of interest to some of you out here.

This is a reprint of something I posted as my Facebook status.  The thoughts are my own, they are not reprinted from someone else nor taken from some book.  They are just thoughts I have been grappling with today as I have gone about my daily routine.  The only changes were the addition of colors for highlighting / accenting various points.

By the cross God displayed two things with absolute clarity ---

A) God hates sin. He hates sin so much that His own son took upon himself all the sins of those who would come to believe in him... and bore full punishment for those sins. The death that Christ died, the bloody, painful, brutal death that Christ died.... was a clear picture of how greatly our Holy God despises sin.

B) God loves men.  He loves them so much that through the cross he effected a means of their forgiveness. He loves them so much that He willingly took upon himself their sins and the punishment for those sins. God loves mankind.

But here's my point: You cannot simply preach "God is Love" without first showing the depths for which a Holy God despises the sinfulness of men. These two things are bound up together and are the necessary starting points of repentance and salvation --- a man cannot be saved until he sees himself a sinner, and in Christ's crucifixion sees the just punishment of his own sins. It is not merely enough that a man believe "God is love" and then live his life however he so desires.... he must likewise understand the gravity of his sin.

Acts 17:30-31 ....But now God commands all people everywhere to repent. For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the man (Christ Jesus) whom He has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising Him from the Dead.

Romans 2:4-5 Do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you towards repentance? But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when His righteous judgement will be revealed.

In a recent comment exchange here on Xanga, someone fired this retort back at me.

Honest doubt is a virtue. Just don't connect it to prejudice.

What this individual was aiming at was that healthy skepticism is something to be proud of, that we should always keep our minds open and not be tied to what some dusty old book says is true.   I have to admit --- that last sentence is a speculation on his words, based on (a) the fact that he is not a Christian and (b) the tone and tenor of previous comments he's made elsewhere, spanning back well over a year.

Before I get to the main gist of my thoughts though, I need to delve into something way off the beaten track.  Today I'm not going to pull out a Bible (for the moment) but rather, a dictionary.

Faith:

noun

1. confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability. 

2. belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact.

Both are from www.dictionary.com

I don't want to end this here just yet.... I highlighted two words on purpose ....

Trust:

Noun
1 firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something:  (Oxford Dictionary Online)

Verb
1. to place confidence in, to have faith, to depend or rely on.  (Dictionary name unknown --- written in the back cover of my 1992 Bible from a dictionary I was using back then and never gave proper citation to.)

And just to be safe ---

Belief (Believe)

3. confidence; faith; trust:  (Dictionary.com)

Further, if you check Synonyms (remember?  Synonyms, Antonyms, Homonyms.... score a point if you remember what each one  is) for each you'll find the same thing happen --- each word ends up defining the other two at some point in the definition check.

Here's my point --- Wherever you'd read the following statements:

Trust in the Lord with all of your heart  (Proverbs 3:5)

For God so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son, that whoever would believe in him might have eternal life... (John 3:16)

For by grace you have been saved, through faith --- and this is not of yourselves, it is a gift from God  (Ephesians 2:8)

You could just as well substitute one of the other words in it's place.  Salvation is through grace because of your believing in God.  You must place your trust in Him.   You must have faith.

All three words have virtually the same meaning or understanding to them.  They are synonyms.  I knew this already ---- I did the comparison / contrast study myself back in 1992, before there was an internet to turn to.

Now on with my blogging.

---

There exists in the heart of man a stubbornness, a certain arrogance which ardently refuses to bow down to God's plan or way of things.  The thing that sets a Christian apart from the Non-Christian could, in some fashion, actually best be stated as the arrangement of three simple words.

A Christian would say --- God has said...

A Non-Christian would say --- HAS God said...?

One is a statement of faith, trust or belief --- a submission to the sovereignty of the Creator, an acknowledgement that God knows best.  The other --- the other is a statement of doubt, distrust or sarcasm, a comment that would aim questions as daggers to assail whomever would assert absolute certainty in God.  Satan's first lie to mankind was the very same question: Has God really said....?  and while the Father of Lies played his poker-face, mankind gained the ability to push God to the side and question His mercy, His goodness, His faithfulness, His grace or any number of God's character attributes. 

We gained the ability to distrust God. 

Such was the nature of doubt.   It calls to question whether God even exists, whether He honestly cares, or if He did indeed write a simple instruction manual intent on showing us that we matter to him.... whether He gave us the guidelines for how we should live.  Doubt says --- Whatever.... and doesn't bother looking to see if any of it is really true.

Doubt, by dictionary definition, means "To lack confidence in, to lack conviction, to be uncertain, to consider questionable, to distrust...." and so it goes.

And nothing could be further from being a "Virtue" than this.  If a Virtue (Dictionary definition = moral excellence; goodness; righteousness.) is something to aspire to, something to seek as a defining personal characteristic..... if a virtue is something noble ---- then doubt is as far from that as the east is from the west.   We do not praise doubters.  We do not hand people who "lack conviction, confidence or who tend toward uncertainty" medals of honor.  No, we have another name for them --- spineless, double-minded, weak, cowards.  Even the Scripture would seem to agree

Trust in the Lord with all of your Heart (re: Mind)
And lean not on YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING
Acknowledge Him in all that you do
And He will guide you in all your ways.  (Proverbs 3:5-6)

A doubter is unstable in all his ways --- because he's not looking for answers, he's looking to attack anyone who claims they HAVE an answer.  Doubt cannot exist in the presence of certainty.  A doubter doesn't believe that God is good, that God is faithful, that God will protect them -- and so rather than throw themselves in reliance upon God when the need arises, they will consistently try to fall to doing things by their own feeble strength, by his own reason and logic.... because those really are his "gods".  And when they fail, they'll simply say that God was never there to begin with.... and if they succeed... it never was God, it was their own reason, logic, strength, capability that rescued them.  God is never an honest factor to a doubter's doubting ways.  Never an answer that would satisfy the question.

Faith is the confident assurance that what we hope for will actually happen.  It gives us certainty  about the things which we cannot see.  (Hebrews 11:1)

I've never seen Jesus.  For that matter, I've never seen God.  All I know about either of them comes from historical records written ages before I was born ---- and from personal experience that has arisen AFTER I placed my trust in them.  But I understand (By Faith) that these records are (a) legitimate, (b) accurate, (c) intentionally written with specific purpose and (d) guided by the very hand of God, Himself.... a written expression of His very heart towards all mankind.  I understand, because I accepted that the answer really was God and that His manner of my approaching him was the only right way to do so.

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command.... (Hebrews 11:3a)

But here's my point --- I, too, was once a "questioner", but at some point I did my research.  I allowed my questions to find answers.  I didn't let my questions become the weapons of my attacks, instead I sought to understand -- I sought to allow it all to make sense.  I spent 9 years reviewing Christianity looking to solve it's puzzle.  In the end --- I understood it all by faith, because that's what honors God.

And Faith (re: trust, belief) is something the doubter will never turn to. 

The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God"....  (Psalm 14:1; 53:1)

If you answer a fool according to his manner of arguing, you will become like him.
If you don't answer a fool accordingly, he will assume he's won the argument.  (Proverbs 26:4-5)

In the end it comes down to this --- A doubter will foolishly call his doubt a virtue, as if it were something noble and grand.  In truth, he's only showing the depths of his folly, and showing that he really doesn't care to know if God honestly cares about him.... if God even exists....  or if God even punishes those who turn against him.  Why?  Because he's got his doubt to cling to like some scattered debris in the aftermath of the Titanic.   He'll question the existence of Hell ..... even as he's been sent there for his own punishment for doubting God's mercy.

Doubt gets man nowhere.

I thought about writing this last week when everything was fresh on my mind.  I opted not to because I didn't want to set myself up as an example to follow.

Apparently.... people thought my example was just that... something to follow.  You'll read more on that near the end.

In our church we have a few "celebrities" from the Taiwanese culture.  There's Pighead Skin (don't ask... I've never understood it myself) who literally is Taiwan's Larry Norman in the Christian Rock movement.  He's been trying to use rock and roll to reach kids for nearly 30 years now.

On the political front we have a few politicians and people who work to make the Laws that Taiwanese society is governed by.

There is one woman who is dear to my heart.  She and her husband stood up against the tyrannical oppression of Chiang Kai-Shek during the 50's, 60's & 70's... and helped make Taiwan into the democracy it is today.  Her name is Tian Mama and she's a strong believer in both democratic freedoms and in Christ.   It's been a pleasure getting to know her over the last 4 years.  She's a real celebrity because she stood up for human rights during a time when that would have gotten her killed for even thinking about it.  God protected her and has used her powerfully over the years.

And this story is partly about her.

---

Legend: This is to help those who want to understand my color coding of Scripture, it is a separate Key apart from what I post below merely to help give understanding of why I highlight things the way I do, namely so as to bring out greater clarity from the Word of God.  Here's the Key:

• Any shade of BLUE = Judgment of God on or over sin.
  
• Any shade of GREEN = grace, forgiveness, salvation, redemption.
• Any shade of RED =  sin, lawlessness, transgression, evil
• Any shade of ORANGE = the Character or Nature of God --- Who God is.
• Any shade of PURPLE = commands to obey, passages that speak with authority on how a Christian should live.
• White on Black is merely there for emphasis.  Kind of zeroing in on the key part of a passage.

Please likewise note, this only applies to Scripture passages.  What I write of my own is merely off-colored to give greater emphasis to certain thoughts.  Sometimes this highlighting does follow my themes.... just as often it doesn't.

---

We had another death at our church the week before last, and this man likewise was one of those who labored long and hard to bring about democracy in Taiwan.  Though I never took the time to get to know him, what I did know of him was his faithfulness to our Church.  Come Sunday before last (ok... let's start dating things here... On January 13th, 2013), after the pastor had said something regarding our former member --- Tian Mama asked to say something as well.  Not unusual for her, she loves to talk and what she says usually is funny and uplifting.

The moment Tian Mama was given the microphone ---- HRUMPH!!!!! was heard loudly through the whole church and one woman got up from her seat and made a show of her displeasure as she walked past Tian Mama disrespectfully and then walked into the bathroom.

"Wow... that was sorta dramatic... what was that all about?"  I asked my wife.... who then proceeds to tell me that this particular woman has long held a grudge against Tian Mama, and has been very vocal about it for years.  She often will bad mouth Tian Mama, and will try to persuade others to view Tian Mama the way she does.  It goes deep --- If Tian Mama makes some special dish for our Sunday meal, this woman will openly talk about how it's not fresh or tasty or any number of ways "bad".

REALLLYYYYY.........

Matthew 5 says that if you remember someone has something against you (and I would not hesitate to reverse that... if you have something against someone else....) ..... and you are coming to God in worship ...... LEAVE.  Go, fix that relationship first.... then come worship God.

Matthew 5:23-24.... it's all right there.

And no one had ever taken the time to point this out to the lady.   No one ever sought to silence her bitter accusations or take the steps to bring about reconciliation between her and Tian Mama  (FOR THE RECORD: Tian Mama holds no grudge against this woman and has openly and publicly stated so.... even openly forgiving her for slandering her!)  No one ever thought to consider Matthew 18:15-17 as a serious passage intent on showing us how Jesus expects us to work through Church discipline.

........ except me, who takes the Bible as literal as necessary.

After Church I approached this woman, Bible in hand.  I asked her "Do you understand English?", because I wanted to be perfectly clear on what I had to say.  At this point it was just me and her --- though I had pursued my wife to be there for translating what I had to say.  (My wife wanted no part of it... but reluctantly agreed after I forced the matter.)

The woman said "Yes, I understand English."

I said, "I have a Bible verse I want to give you...." and my wife walked off to find a Chinese translation.  I flipped my Bible open to Matthew 5:23-24 and started reading in English ---

Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.

By this point Kai was back with the Chinese translation and I dropped this bomb.

God commands you to fix your relationship with Tian Mama, telling you that your worship isn't accepted by Him until you've done so.

When I said Bomb... I literally meant it.   This woman exploded.... loudly... so that the whole church now knew something was going on.

Matthew 18:15 --- If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.

Having taken Kai with me I figured this would be the second step of the process.  Radically this skipped from being a private discussion, to one the whole church was now privy to.  And it got wild.  Quickly.

There was much yelling and screaming by this woman as if to intimidate me into silence --- but I know the truth and I stand by it and I would not back down.  For everything she fired against me, I had a biblical answer.

You don't know this woman the way I do, I've known her 20 years and she is a hypocrite.  (Note: Yes.... this bitterness was allowed to stick around for 20 years without anyone saying a word!!!  Ouch.)

I don't need to know the gossip, the situation, the reasons or your slander --- you have a commandment from Christ, Fix the relationship.  (Matthew 5:24)

What gives you the right to say anything to me?

Galatians 6:1-3 says plainly, if anyone among you sees someone else sin, go to that person with the aim of helping them.  The Bible gave me that right.  Matthew 18:15 also says that if I see a brother in Sin I am to go work towards helping them.

You are a hypocrite, you don't know her and you are judging me!!!

No, you are the hypocrite by refusing to obey the clear word of God.  Matthew 5 gives you a command.... by refusing to obey, you are being the hypocrite by calling yourself a Christian.

I HATE YOU!  Be quite, shut up, I don't want to hear any more.

No man can love God and hate his brother -- you are a liar if you think you can call yourself a Christian and hate someone else.  1 John 1:6, 8, 10 and 1 John 4:21 all say this.  1 John 3:15  Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.  You have no eternal life so long as you are holding on to hate --- you are a murderer.

You are a poison that does not belong in this church, be gone!  (Yes... I said that.  I was basing it on Hebrews 12:15.)

This went on for over 20 minutes with the whole church in stunned silence and only her and I ..... nose to nose at times!!! ..... speaking in English and quite loudly.  She was explosive, and in serious anger but I was able to maintain a civil tongue and keep from getting angry myself.  At one point I prayed that God would keep me from reacting and keep me calm throughout all of it.... He graciously answered that prayer.

In the end she gave me the bitterest, angriest, most hate-filled stare and she shut up.  She wanted to keep the argument going, but as I kept pointing back to the Bible every step along the way.... she gave up ---- because she wasn't winning.   She saw that I knew my Bible and that I was ready and willing to use it, I wasn't just arguing pointlessly ---- I was holding her accountable to God, and she resented that. 

---

Immediately I had people gathered around me.... thanking me.

Thanking me?  For what?  I only did what the Bible commands us ALL to do.  There's nothing here to be thankful for.... no one was reconciled and this poor lady is deluded into thinking she was saved and could hate whomever she wanted, spread lies about whomever she wanted, slander and gossip about whomever she wanted....  and for all that.... the Church had done nothing but let it grow for 20 years.  There really wasn't anything to be grateful about.

Anyway, people were thanking me left and right for standing up to her, for saying what I said to her, and for not backing down. Some of them were talking to me as if I was some kind of hero.... I was not.  What I did wasn't anything new --- Paul had to take the same route in Philippians 4

 Now I appeal to Euodia and Syntyche. Please, because you belong to the Lord, settle your disagreement.  And I ask you, my true partner, to help these two women, for they worked hard with me in telling others the Good News. They worked along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are written in the Book of Life.  (Philippians 4:2-3)

I left to go to Subway to have a sandwich and study the whole issue a bit more in depth in my Bible --- coming across Matthew 6:14-15 in the process which is crucial to understanding the gravity of this whole matter --- and upon my return to Church I found the Chief Church Elder in deep conversation with my wife.  (She had choir practice... hence why I went out to eat alone.)   The matter of Church discipline was the topic of discussion and at the point I walked in, it sounded like I was the one who was going to be disciplined!!!!!

Then I said something that silenced everyone in the room and turned the whole matter back upon itself.  It's nothing new, I wrote a whole post on this topic 2 years ago entitled "Defending my wife's honor".

If I say "I love you" to my wife, but I remain silent when someone calls her a whore, or a slut, or a prostitute --- by my silence I am not saying that I love her, but that I agree with the speaker.

If I have a friend who is slandering another friend, and I stay silent --- then I do not love either one of my friends.

I kid you not --- the whole issue turned on that one statement.   All of a sudden the people of the church saw themselves guilty for not having spoken up for Tian Mama all these years.  Everyone understood that they were guilty by their silence.

That's how Sunday 1-13-13 ended for Kai and I, with the whole church pondering the matter of Church discipline and what our personal responses should be to gossip and slander.

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We did not go to our Taipei church this Sunday (January 20th), instead we choose to show up at the church local to our home. It wasn't because of the explosive situation from the week before, that had long been forgotten, we just wanted to sleep later... isn't that spiritual of us?   Anyway, we heard  afterwards what happened....

All this week this woman has been firing out emails to everyone she knows... filled with hate-speech and venom.   And all week..... people ignored her for the first time in her life.  People blocked her.  People responded back saying that she needed to fix the relationship with Tian Mama.  My sole action of confronting her has led the church to understand it needs to be obedient when dealing with it's own members.   I didn't set out to rebuke the church, merely to correct one individual.  My actions had unexpected repercussions throughout our whole church.... simply because I did what I knew was right.

She came to Church this Sunday .... and stayed silent throughout the whole service and no one talked to her and no one fed her bitterness.   She's learning --- to obey is better than sacrifice.  God desires our obedience to him, not merely our words. 

Two things I said on Facebook this week pertain to this whole matter ---

Love does not stay silent when lies are being spread.

God is not impressed by our words. God is impressed by our obedience to HIS word. (1 Samuel 15:22) Just because you say God's name on your lips doesn't mean you're following him with your Heart. (Matthew 7:21-23)

Both sum up the point --- God isn't looking for lip service, He wants people who will do what's right.  Defending widows, taking care of orphans, speaking up for those no one else will.... these are the things that God desires.  Our words are meaningless if our lives don't show a changed heart.

Another big one just hit.... while I've been typing out another blog post on Evil.  Lasted nearly 15 seconds and shook the whole building so that our shelving units were shaking back and forth.  Pretty strong.  It's too soon to turn to Taiwan's Central weather website, but I'll have a look-see in a few minutes and drop the information back in here.

2 minutes later --- no picture to add yet, but the magnitude was 4.8 and the depth was SUPER shallow.... only 5 kilometers!  That's the shallowest earthquake we've had here in Taiwan in all the time I've been here.  Hit just off the shore of the city of Yilan, so I know there's gonna be some serious damage to the buildings in that city.  Might wanna pray for them today.

Ok, finally, here's the picture data.  The red star is the epicenter --- we're on the other side of the island, nearly directly across from it.  Now the real question is --- was this a precursor to something bigger coming?  I'll keep you updated if anything does indeed happen.

Not one of my normal posts... this is merely a repost of comments made presently at Facebook where someone I know posted this question as their status.

Matt S. Question: Did Satan enter Judas because he wanted Jesus to be crucified? Any thoughts/comments?

These were the first responders:

John Mc -- I don't think Judas wanted Jesus to be crucified.....Satan did, but not Judas. Had Judas wanted to see Jesus killed he wouldn't have felt any remorse at all. Judas knew he had betrayed innocent....his guilt and shame caused him to go out and hang himself. Although he felt remorse he still did not repent of this awful sin..

Rob D -- well this is a good question .. and one that need some consideration God decreed both that satan would entice Judas into doing the bidding, but God also predicted this be the way it would occur ... lets not forget that satan also enticed peter to the opposite extreme in Matthew 16 :23

Here's what I responded with:

John, I don't think even Satan wanted Jesus crucified. Remember Peter trying to stop Jesus (Matthew 16:21-23) and Jesus rebuking him... as Satan?!?!?! I honestly think that Satan had used Peter to try to keep Jesus from the cross ... if he could.

I honestly believe that Satan would have never put Jesus on the cross because he understood the sacrificial system and it's implications .... but that was God's intent and purpose all along. (Acts 4:27-28)

So Matt... your question of Did Satan enter Judas... actually reveals that Satan once used even Peter.

Response #2 (No comments between... just had further time to reflect on the subject and give comment.)

Satan doesn't want men in a covenantal relationship with God. Neither does he want men forgiven. Understanding the sacrificial system of scapegoating sin (laying ones hands upon the goat as a symbol that one's sin & guilt was placed upon the life of the other...) Satan could see where Christ's crucifixion would lead to. Men made righteous before God not on the basis of things they did --- but what Christ had done in their place. Exactly the sort of thing Satan would fight against.

Hence Herod murdering babies.

Hence Peter working to dissuade Christ from dying.

Hence Christ's own disciples leaving him when he spoke of eating his flesh and drinking his blood (Prefiguring the cross and communion). (John 6:66)

Hence the Pharisees (Representing the religious systems of the entire world) getting angry when Christ for clearing out the temple... a second time... and upsetting the financial system that had built itself around the temple's sacrificial system. (Hmmm, sounds a lot like Roman Catholicism today....)

And in the end, God's will be done. Jesus went to the Cross and death lost.

Guessing at the mind of Satan isn't easy.  It's not something I personally like to spend time on.  My friend asked a pretty profound question and it gave me pause to think.  We can see the mind of God --- He's clearly given us that in Scripture --- but can we really ever see or understand the mind of our enemy?  I think that it is best to actually "Seek first the kingdom, and it's righteousness..." and allow all else to be added or given if God should deem so as we come to know Christ and the Word.  

My responses are merely speculation based on reasonable review of scripture.  But as there is honestly silence on the mind of Satan, at best all I can do is speculate.  If someone else can prove me wrong, Amen.  I would rather know the truth and be corrected by it, than to arrogantly believe myself above reproof.

Thus I end this post with a challenge --- what do you see in Scripture that might change what I have said.... or support what my thoughts further?  Don't leave your mere opinion... show me what you can from scripture that will give credence to what you say.  Opinions (my own included) are worthless --- only the Word of God stands unchanging through Eternity.