Full Surrender

Surrender is vital to Christian maturity. Even after accepting Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit, the work of the Spirit is limited unless we remain fully surrendered to His work in and through us. God cannot bring us to Christ-like maturity unless we give His Spirit freedom to work.
Surrender is not a ritual where God arbitrarily blesses the obedient—nor a form of Holy magic where God waves a wand and we suddenly become super-saints. Neither do we pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps, then give God the glory just to be nice. Christian maturity is a blend of human and Divine surrender. We surrender our weakness. God surrenders His strength. We surrender our sin. God surrenders His holiness. We surrender our resistance. God surrenders his assistance. If we live in full surrender, God will continue to work in our lives.
The work of the Holy Spirit is similar to the power steering unit in an automobile. The driver decides when and where to turn and the power steering unit supplies power to accomplish it. However, when we go outside the will of God, God must withdraw His Spirit to avoid helping us do what is not His will and not for our good. When God withdraws the power of his Spirit from our lives it is like an automobile engine that dies while the car is still moving—the car becomes extremely difficult to steer. If life is not going right we need to carefully consider what the reason may be. Could it be we are outside the will of God in action, activity or attitude?
Life in Christ means becoming more like Jesus—our main task and the primary work of the Holy Spirit working in us. He constantly seeks to restore in us the image of God lost first by Adam through disobedience, and secondly by us when we personally choose sin. Our every disobedience distorts God's image in our lives, and the farther we go outside God’s will, the more work God's Spirit must do to restore us to what God created us to be.
The surrendered life helps us become more Spirit-directed in daily living. Learning to live under the Spirit's constant direction saves us from many heartaches as well as much wasted time and effort. After all, God knows everything—even the future. He knows the ramifications of all our possible decisions before we even make them. He knows what we should do to achieve the best for our lives. If our desires agree with His Will, we can count on God to help us accomplish them. When we live in disobedience to God we must live without God’s help. (Although not entirely, we could not survive at all if God totally withdrew his support for life. The Bible makes it clear that: “in him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28(NIV)).
But when we try to live the Christian life without the infilling of Christ’s Spirit we ignore our greatest help, because the most significant help for spiritual growth is the active power of God’s Spirit working in believers’ lives. Is it surprising Jesus told his disciples to wait until they were baptized with the Holy Spirit to begin their witness?
The surrendered life also helps us become more useful in God’s Kingdom. If our desire is to be more useful for God we can depend on Him to be constantly refining us to make our lives pure spiritual gold.
Remember, we are created in His Image to the Glory of God; distorted by sin to the disappointment of God, redeemed from sin by the sacrifice of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord, and restored to His Image by the Spirit of God.
I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .
and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

How can a loving God send someone to hell?

God doesn't send anyone to hell. Hell is real, but it is a result of humanity rejecting God. Scripture shows us how to escape hell and spend eternity with God. God's perfect plan is that we, though conceived on earth, are eternal souls who live eternally with him.

Sin separates us from God and that is hell—to be eternally separated from God—whereas in heaven we live in the eternal presence of God. God wants to save us from hell so he sent Jesus to redeem us from sin and bring us back into His glorious Presence. In a sense, our physical bodies and earthly existence separate us from God because he is Spirit and we are flesh. We have a taste of hell when we cannot see God face to face because our earthly eyes cannot see spirit, whether the Spirit of God or the spirit of a brother or sister in Christ. In heaven we will see the glorified bodies of our brothers and sisters, as well as God and His holy angels, as easily as we see earthly bodies here.

Satan’s desires oppose God. Satan wants to separate humanity from God eternally and have them with him (not because he loves us) because he wants to destroy God’s creation. The human heart is good and beautiful and true only when totally surrendered to God. Without God we, like Satan, can be vile and capable of every kind of evil. The prophet Jeremiah warns (17:9) "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked." Without God, the heart’s deceitfulness runs rampant, so Satan succeeds when he separates us from God.

When God created humanity, we were designed for God. We cannot live without him. While on earth, we can survive physically without God but only because of his loving kindness and generosity. He continues to give life and breath even when we reject him. However, when our physical bodies die (and they do because our bodies were not created for eternity) we are homeless and separated from God. Satan has accomplished his desire—to separate us eternally from our Creator and his unconditional love.

Hell is a "place" for Satan and his demons. They want no part of God and probably prefer where they are, to heaven. We, on the other hand, were not created to be separated from God and we perish without him. Because our souls are eternal, the death of the soul is not like the death of a physical body, which will eventually be complete so our earthly bodies find rest in death. Without the redeeming power of God, once sin enters our lives we are condemned to eternal death—prolonged and eternal—absent from a loving God and in the presence of Satan and his demons.

If such a thing sounds horrible to us with our limited understanding, imagine how it grieves God that those he created to live eternally as his children instead experience eternity without him and his goodness. The Bible is clear God doesn't want that to happen to anyone—"not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9NIV). “God wants everyone to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.” (I Timothy 2:1-4NIV). “God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the whole world, through him, might be saved.” (John 3:17).

You are God’s child. He loves you and wants you to experience the full blessing of His unconditional love. I urge you to open your heart to him now and invite him in. If you need help, call a pastor or Christian friend. Help is available.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .
and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

The Power of the Sign

Around our church staff we often hear comments about “the power of the sign”. Often coming from Jennifer, our church receptionist. She often gets calls about the sign in front of our church on Niles Avenue, sometimes from our own congregants and often from persons in the community. Niles Avenue is a busy street and many people read the sign, especially if they’re caught by the traffic light at Botham Avenue as they travel toward downtown.

The risen Christ said, in Acts 1:8 that we would receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on us and, as a result, we would be his witnesses “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Probably, to those disciples, Berrien County Michigan, would be the “ends of the earth”. North America was totally unknown to the world at that time, but his witness has come to our community and we are blessed with thousands of Christ-followers who try to live out the love of Christ in an amazing variety of ways. We are the “signs” for Jesus! We are his witnesses!

We often think of witnesses as being when we tell someone about what God has done for us through Christ Jesus, and that is a wonderful thing. We should do it at every opportunity and with increasing skill the longer we serve him. However, “the power of the sign” is in just being there where people can see it and read it at their leisure or in the midst of their busy days. That is also true of the power of a transformed life. If God has touched your life—if you are living out your faith to the best of your ability, then God has transformed you into a powerful sign of his divine presence.

An unbeliever might sometimes view the sign with suspicion—why is she being so nice? What does he expect to get out of this? What is their real motive? But the power of the sign, if it is just there, day after day, being Christ-like, loving others through normal courtesies, casual friendliness, genuine compassion when they’re hurting, or honest appreciation for a kindness shown, is the very best witness to the power of Christ to change a life.

Not everyone has the gift of evangelism. Not everyone can put their faith into words in a way that will influence someone else to become a follower of Christ. But each of us can be witnesses for Christ as we allow his Spirit to live in us and transform us day by day into his image—not making us all alike, but giving each of us the attributes of godliness that bless the world around us on a day to day basis, each of us in our own unique way.

I am the beneficiary of those blessings on so many days, in so many ways, from so many people, who quietly go about their lives being Christ to everyone they meet. May God help each of us to always be a sign of Jesus Christ to everyone we meet. God will do his part if we will each do ours, and the result will be the gradual, but dramatic transformation of society, by his divine Presence in our very human lives.

Never underestimate the power of the sign!

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .
and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Rising to the Next Level

Recently I have had a number of experiences of talking with people who are Christians, and have been so for many years, but they have not yet had the personal experience with God that they see in others in our congregation—and they hunger for it.

Many of them have grown up in, or been a part of solid Christian denominations, but those who do not encourage or teach a personal relationship with God. So they live their lives praying to God, but he is always the God who is “out there”—as if they’re standing at the door talking to him through the screen door, or through a window—with God on the outside and they on the inside of this house called life.

But now they want more. They know people who seem to have an inside track with God. These other persons have a close personal relationship that they themselves have never experienced—and they want to experience it too.

Too often in the past we have told these persons they need to “get saved”, which is really an insult because they have been serving God to the best of their ability for many years. After much thought and prayer I now approach this situation in a different way. In a situation like this I talk to them about moving up to a whole new level in their relationship with God. I try to never denigrate the relationship they already have. I recognize them as Christians and I truly believe if they died, they would go to heaven. We are saved through faith in Christ, not by some particular method of believing or ritual (such as kneeling at an altar) no matter how meaningful that ritual is to us. The secret of salvation is in our faith in Jesus Christ, not in a particular method or denominational polity.

If you don’t know Christ in a personal way, you’re missing something very special. He wants to be your best friend and when he becomes so, it won’t hurt your relationship with your current best friend. (At least not usually—there are exceptions when the current best friend resents the change in you and tries to turn you away from Christ.) When that happens you have to make a choice and I hope you choose Jesus. He will make all of your good relationships better, he can sometimes redeem relationships that are bad, and He will help you move up to an entirely new level of your Christian walk.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .
and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Visiting Alzheimer Patients

I recently visited with a parishioner who has Alzheimer’s Disease. It was a pleasant experience and the parishioner seemed to appreciate and enjoy the visit and my prayer before I left. It occurred to me that perhaps my experience with my mother, who had Alzheimer’s for years before she died, probably gave me some experience that would be helpful to others.

Often when we visit friends or family members with Alzheimer’s or other types of dementia, we feel ill at ease because the patient is often anxious and uncomfortable. Then, we often think it would be better if we hadn’t come at all. Let me assure you, that is not true. It is good that you went to visit, and it was probably helpful to the patient to have some diversion to their life, even if they don’t remember it moments after you leave.

Here are some suggestions that may be helpful to you:

• Just love them. How long they remember you isn’t as important as bringing a bright spot to their day.
• Treasure the moments. Learn to treasure the moments, the smiles, the conversation—even if it is sometimes disjointed and doesn’t always make sense. It is good for them to chat with you. Your presence is important to them.
• Don’t ask questions. Never ask them to clarify or explain. They can’t, and the anxiety will come quickly.

I noticed early on in Mom’s Alzheimer time of life that if I asked her questions that she couldn’t answer, even the least thing, she would become anxious and ill at ease—perhaps embarrassed because she didn’t know the answer. (Although, I’m not sure if she was embarrassed, because she couldn’t tell me.)

I soon learned to never ask questions, but to always tell her things. First, I would tell her who I was: “I’m your son, Rick. I wanted to stop by and see you today. How are you?” (That’s one question I could always ask Mom. It may not be true of all Alzheimer patients.) Tell them about the weather. Tell them about your children, grandchildren, friends, the news, anything that may be of interest. But always tell it as if you wouldn’t expect the patient to know any of it, so he/she doesn’t have to do mental calculations, which might make them feel anxious.

The main thing is to visit. Even though they won’t remember, the moments are precious “in the moment.”

In the latter days of his life, former president Ronald Reagan was afflicted with Alzheimer’s Disease. His son was faithful to visit him, and Reagan greeted his visits eagerly, even though he then only knew him as, “the man who hugs me.”

Just be the one who hugs them.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .
and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

(This article was first published in First Touch, online newsletter for First Church of God, St Joseph, Michigan.)

The Slaughter of the Innocents

President Obama didn’t waste any time overturning President Bush’s limits on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. In my opinion it was a very sad day in our nation’s history. He who talked so much about bringing people together not only “dissed” millions of people who sincerely believe such research is wrong because it destroys people, he also endorsed as "good" science something that has not proven to be good science. Embryonic stem cell research has not been nearly as effective as adult stem research, which does not have any bad ethical implications. Why then, do people continue to insist on something as being “good science” when the preponderance of scientific evidence supports something else entirely? It may be politically correct, but it is definitely not good science.

There is a God and he is fully involved in the human experience. When we do what is right he helps us to accomplish it. When we do what is wrong he not only doesn’t help, he may even hinder our efforts. Do you think maybe he is trying to tell us something about embryonic stem cell research? Could it be when he created us he built into our DNA the possibilities of adult stem cells being used in such powerful ways and now that human understanding has developed to the point we can use such research effectively he is ready to open up to us great new areas of scientific knowledge in the area of human health?

On the other hand, because he who even sees the sparrow fall, agonizes over the death of even an infinitely small and unborn human being, perhaps even before creation he looked into the future and saw that “the heart is deceitful and exceedingly wicked” perhaps therefore, he created us so that it would be impossible for us to effectively used embryonic stem cells that require the destruction of his beloved children? Perhaps it will never be successful and therefore we will spend billions on worthless, pseudo science that is totally out of touch with reality.

President Obama also over-turned President Bush’s executive order that ended taxpayer support of abortions in the world outside our nation. I pray for President Obama and I hope you do as well. One of the things I pray for is that God will impress on him the fact that he has been elected to be president of all the people, even those who are not yet born. And, I pray God will help him make godly decision that will bless our nation.

Our home and congregation are just a few miles from the famed Catholic University of Notre Dame. The president and leaders of the university have asked President Obama to be a speaker at this year’s Spring graduation exercises. They also plan to give him an honorary degree. However, many students, faculty and staff of the university, as well as laity, cardinals and priests throughout the church are speaking up with the conviction that his strong pro-abortion stance is totally out of sync with the theology and ethics of the Catholic Church. (Notice I said “pro-abortion”, not “pro-choice”—the babies have no choice at all.)

You’ve probably heard about this on the news, although we probably hear more because we’re so close. Please pray for the university to make the right decision and reject the concept of ignoring sin just because it is politically correct.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .
and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Holy Week Musings

As we move through what we call Holy Week, we may ask ourselves, why would we call this “Holy Week”? It was the week during which the holy Son of God was crucified by unspeakable evil on a cruel cross in the most horrific crime ever committed in the life of our planet. Shouldn’t we call it “Evil Week”?

No we shouldn’t. Because this is the week that goodness, or holiness triumphed over evil. It was a week of cosmic battle between the forces of good and evil—and righteousness prevailed totally and completely. Evil has forever been condemned to second place in the power forces of world domination.

One purpose of Holy Week is to help us remember that good did triumph over evil in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ and because of that we do two things. First, those of us who have accepted Christ’s death on the cross by faith experience the joy of new life personally and communally, as we worship and work individually, and together with our fellow Christians, locally and around the world, to help Him make the world better.

That’s actually the second thing we do—we make the world better. This is found in John 10:10(NIV) where Jesus said, “The thief came only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” As people of God we cooperate with Jesus in what he came to do. His work on the cross was a complete work, but the results are seen incrementally as lives are transformed by the power of the Gospel of Christ working in individual hearts. This personal transformation, multiplied over and over again brings an amazing transformation to society that is the Divine plan.

So during Holy Week we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, proof of the greatest victory the world has ever known—a victory that makes possible ever more victories on top of victories. This wonderful victorious life of triumph over evil will continue and increase as long as this world exists and then will continue in heaven for eternity.

So this Holy Week and every resurrection Sunday of our lives we celebrate the victory of good over evil in the person Jesus Christ and in every person who lives a life redeemed by him and surrendered to the power of his Spirit living in us.

“Praise God, from whom all blessings flow!”

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .
and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Letter to a Prisoner. .

Previously published Saturday, March 7, 2009, in the
Herald-Palladium newspaper column: Insights, at:
http://www.heraldpalladium.com/articles/2009/03/07/features/295090.txt

Dear Friend,

I compliment you on the interesting letter you wrote and your honesty about your life situation. All of us make mistakes, so you are not alone. I can’t imagine how difficult prison must be, but I rejoice in your desire to improve.

The fact you made mistakes and have sin in your life doesn’t mean you are not acceptable to God. It means you need God’s help. And God wants so much to help that he sent his son Jesus, to die for us. You said you’re trying to improve your life. I believe the best way to improve our situation is to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, then experience God’s love as His beloved children!

Two Bible versed in John’s Gospel (3:16-17) make this clear. These verses show God loves us and Jesus did not come to condemn, but to save. We all have things in our lives that deserve condemnation, but that is not what Jesus is about. He is about forgiveness. He came to save the world, but he also came to save you. Every one of us could read these verses like this:
16"For God so loved me that he gave his one and only Son, that if I believe in him I will not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn me, but to save me through him.”

You wrote you feel “almost lost”. Really, all of us are lost when we don’t know Christ as Savior. The only solution is this spiritual birth, in which every other Christian on earth becomes your brother or sister in Christ. You find both yourself and a new family.

This spiritual birth comes when we admit our sin to God, are sorry for that sin and ask God to forgive us. In Romans (3:22-24), the Bible says:
"22God treats everyone alike. He accepts people only because they have faith in Jesus Christ. 23All of us have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. 24But God treats us much better than we deserve, and because of Christ Jesus, he freely accepts us and sets us free from our sins." (Contemporary English Version)

You asked about joining a church. I believe there is only one church—God’s church. Local churches and church groups have many different names, but if they teach salvation by faith in Christ, they are part of God’s one true church. We all become members in this universal church by that spiritual birth called faith in Jesus Christ. Then you find a local church in which to worship and serve.

Jesus tells us in John 3:3 “No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” Here is a prayer you can pray to be sure you have experienced this spiritual birth. God is with you and he understands the language of the heart, so when you pray in sincere faith, He will hear. If you are ready to make this decision, pray this prayer (either silently or aloud):

Heavenly Father, I am a sinner. I have done much wrong, and am truly sorry. I want to reject sin and be saved by faith in your son Jesus Christ.
Lord Jesus, I believe it is only by faith in you I can be saved. You are God’s Son and Savior of the world. Please come into my heart and cleanse me of all sin. I accept you as my Savior and with your help I’ll do my best to serve you all my remaining life. Amen.

If you prayed sincerely and believe Christ is not only Savior of the world, but your personal Savior, you are born spiritually as a child of God and are a member of his universal church. Welcome! Find another Christian and tell them you’re in the family too.

Or, find someone who is not yet a Christian and invite them into the family!

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .
and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

From Where Do Church Groups Come?

Well, somebody starts them. Often not intentionally. They may begin because of doctrinal differences with a person’s current church. John Winebrenner was a Dutch Reformed minister who began having evangelistic revivals to get people saved. When he wouldn’t stop, he was removed from the Dutch Reformed Church and started the Churches of God of North America. About a hundred years later, Daniel Warner, one of their ministers, began to preach about sanctification and the work of the Holy Spirit and he was removed from that church and thus began our group who call themselves the Church of God, or the Church of God Reformation Movement. Also know as the Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) to differentiate us from dozens of other groups who also use this biblical name.

Or they may be cultural in nature. A particular church group may have doctrines that are very similar to other groups, but the people don’t fit in with those other groups because their culture is so different they just can’t connect.

And there is the possibility that God starts them because he wants to reveal himself through them in a particular way. Sometimes the doctrinal differences aren’t great enough to justify two different groups being separate, but their emphasis in ministry is very different. Could it be that God wants both so he can express himself fully in both those ways? Could it be different church groups are gifted by God in different ways—anointed by God to lead the whole body of Christ in particular ministries? Let me give some examples.

The Mennonite, Amish and Brethren Churches tend to be greatly gifted at “helps” and “service” ministries. They’re good at a lot of things. Strong Bible teachers, great worshippers, etc., but they are known for their ability to help people when they are in need. They have also taught other church groups how to do those things better. Maybe they have the gift of helps.

The Pentecostal movement has not taken hold in all of our churches because many of us just do not accept the concept of a “heavenly language” or “unknown tongue”, but the charismatic worship of the Pentecostals has blessed almost all of Christianity because they have taught us how to worship God more fervently and passionately. Perhaps they are particularly anointed for worship and for teaching us all how to worship God with all our hearts.

The Baptists, such as Rick Warren and many others in many different Baptist groups are greatly gifted at evangelism and have taught the entire body of Christ how to be more effective evangelists. Perhaps they have the gift of evangelism.

There are many more examples, but the point is, just because church groups differ in some ways, doesn’t mean they aren’t our brothers and sisters in the Lord. There is really only one Christian Church and whether we call it the Church of God, Christian Church, Church of Christ, Assembly of God, etc., etc., etc., doesn’t matter. What matters is our relationship with Christ and our correct teaching on those basic Christian doctrines on which we all agree.

I’m Rick Blumenberg,
And that’s My View from Tanner Creek.

Celebrating the "Most-Christian" Era . . .

I don’t know if he was quoting someone else or if it was his own creation, but the speaker said “There are only two ministry experiences in this post-Christendom era: 1. slow death 2. deep change.”

From my experience, I’m convinced the two ministry experiences have always been slow death or deep change. It was true when Jesus walked the earth in human flesh as a God-man and it is still true today as he walks the earth in human flesh as the eternal transformer of mankind. The worst thing that can happen to any Christian at any stage of development is to think we have finished with change. When we stop changing we lose the vitality of our relationship with Christ because he never stops changing us as long as the relationship is real and growing. When we stop being changed by our relationship with him we can be sure he has ceased to be Lord and Master, otherwise he always transforms us into his likeness. When we are totally surrendered to Christ and living in the power of his Spirit, we are “complete in him” (Colossians 2:10) but Christ will continue to transform us more and more into his image as long as we live in this world if we live in a state of full surrender.

What troubled me most, was the implication that we live in a post-Christian era. Now, notice he did not say “post-Christian” but “post-Christendom”. There is a huge difference and I’m sure the phrase was intentional. Perhaps he used that phrase because he, like myself, believes the best of the Christian era is not past but future, even though, as we all know, it will continue to be different in the future than it has been in the past.

I just “Googled” “Post-Christian” at fifty hits per page and got twelve pages or 600 hits. As you can imagine, I didn’t read them all, but skimming through the info I saw some heralding the demise of Christianity—some with glee and some with sorrow. Some dealt with how to witness for Christ in a Post-Christian world. I’m sure all have good thoughts, but I won’t accept the idea of a Post-Christian world until Christ returns. Until then, he will continue to work in the hearts and lives of those who allow him to work, he will continue to be victorious, and not only the individual people, but the world will continue to become more Christ-like.

Jesus taught us to pray to the Father “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10) Surely we don’t believe that was a prayer he doesn’t expect to answer in the affirmative? Surely it is not that he wants God’s kingdom to come in this world, but isn’t able to accomplish it?

As for me, I believe we are in the “Most Christian” era the world has ever seen. Perhaps this time is what Christ saw in his mind when said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.” —John 14:12 (NLT)

I'm Rick Blumenberg,
And that's My View from Tanner Creek.