I Believe! Part 3

I believe in the selfishness of sin. Every sin is basically some form of selfishness and every instance of selfishness is sin— the very opposite of righteousness. Selfishness, by its very nature, alienates people from God and from each other, hindering and ultimately destroying the Divine‑human oneness that is the essence of abundant living.

I believe in the wholesomeness of holiness. Holiness is the Divinely intended state of mankind and every unholiness involves some sort of destructive unwholesomeness and defeats God’s perfect Will for us. Holiness does not interfere with life but makes it decisively more enjoyable, more worthwhile and more satisfying. Body, mind, and spirit were created by a holy God for holy living, therefore any unholiness is destructive in any area of life.

I believe in three steps of relinquishment. I believe in salvation, where persons humble themselves before God, to ask forgiveness of past sin, and to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Master of life. I believe in sanctification, where redeemed persons surrender their total being and every extension of themselves to God, requesting the infilling of His Holy Spirit, who cleanses us from the tendency toward selfishness and sets us apart for God’s sacred purposes. I believe the third step is "Becoming". As Christians continually yield themselves to the refining power of the Holy Spirit we become more and more restored to the image of God.

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

Why Have You Forsaken Me?

Jesus uttered these words on the cross to God; “My God, my God—why have you forsaken me?”

Why did God forsake Jesus on the cross? Was it because he couldn’t bear to see his son hanging there? That’s reasonable. Was it because he couldn’t bear to look on the sin of the world Jesus took to the cross? That could be.

But the Bible doesn’t really say God forsook Jesus. We can assume from what Jesus said, that he really, down to the core of his being, felt forsaken by God. And he had never known that feeling before. He had never sinned and therefore had never felt the pain of being separated from the most Holy God.

But sin always separates us from God. We know that. We’ve all been there. Sin is like the cloud that hides the sun. The sun doesn’t change, but it sure feels different on a cool day when the clouds gather and we’re left in the cold. But the sun doesn’t change. It is only hidden by the clouds.

God never forsakes us and he also wouldn’t forsake Jesus. When sin comes into our lives it feels like God is a million miles away only because the sin comes between us and him. We feel helpless, as if there were nothing we could do about it. That’s how Jesus felt, hanging there on the cross with all of my sin, and yours, and the sins of the whole world—a burden too big for any mere human to carry. But Jesus wasn’t a mere human. He carried those sins to the cross and died to gain the antidote for our sin poison and the sin poisons of the whole world. He was the only divine-human Being who ever was and he was the only he could do it.

I think God was right there looking on and wanting to help, but he knew this time the Son had to be on his own. The Father had to stand aside and let the Son do what only he could do. Jesus had to get through the pain of feeling forsaken by the Father in order to provide us with an antidote for the poison of our sin. I think God was there cheering him on, but Jesus didn’t know it because of the sin he carried for us.

When you feel forsaken by God because of sin, just remember that the forsakenness you feel is not real. God is waiting for you to ask for the antidote his Son provided when he died on the cross. God is pulling for you! Jesus, himself, is interceding for you as well. When you ask in faith, God gives his help lavishly—always adequately for your salvation. In fact the antidote is adequate for all the sins of the entire world.

Let our prayer for this planet today be that every person on earth will turn to God, receive the antidote for sin’s poison, and thus remove the cloud of sin that separates us from God’s unconditional love. That’s what “Resurrection Sunday” (usually called Easter) is all about.

Go to church somewhere this Sunday and celebrate what God has done for you! And for everyone in the entire world!

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

Jeremiah's Prophecy

In Jeremiah we read a prophecy of the Christ and of the times in which we now live. The key verse is 34, which reads “No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."

This is a prophecy of our time—a prophecy of Christ and of the times in which we live—the time from his resurrection to his return in glory. The prophecy has not been fully fulfilled but it is our task (the task of the people of God and our privilege) to help usher in the fullness of the Kingdom of God by the prayers of the saints, the witness of the risen Christ in our lives and in our testimonies, and, by the power of his Spirit fully revealed in the life and witness of the people of God!

Sometimes our hellfire and brimstone preaching sounds as if God is rubbing his hands in glee, thinking about the time when he can cast all those lost sinners into the lake of fire. But God’s word clearly states that his desire is for our salvation and for the salvation of the whole world. The Bible clearly states that hell was prepared, not for people, but for the devil and his demons. It is no place for people and God doesn’t want anyone to go there. Only Satan desires such and sin is the only thing that will put us there—not God.

Jesus asked us to pray for God’s kingdom to come and God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Now we know that in heaven everyone loves God and lives to praise him, so if the Lord ’s Prayer is answered, that means the time should come when everyone on earth loves God and serves him with all our hearts. I’m not talking about a future millennial age—I believe this is a prophecy for this present age.

The Jeremiah prophecy in chapter 31 verses 31-34 and especially verse 34, speaks of a time when everyone will know the Lord, when God will forgive our wickedness and no longer remember our sins. This can be nothing else but a prophecy of the Christ and his present kingdom.

It would appear that God’s heart is blessed more by vibrant faith than anything else and I think the reason is that it is God’s plan, through the faith, prayers, and witness of his people, to fulfill the kingdom as he saves lost souls through Christ and in so doing, transforms society, one life at a time. He is doing that now, all over the world! What a marvelous and exciting time we live in!

Just as God has poured out his Spirit into the lives of his people who have been saved through faith in Christ, he wants this same blessing for every human being on the face of the earth. God prophesied it long ago through Jeremiah and it is our glorious privilege to live in the time when the prophecy is being fulfilled. But it is not happening as fast as it ought to be!

It is not only our privilege, but our task, and our calling, to pray, as Jesus taught us, for God’s kingdom to come and God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. It is our privilege to be Christ’s witnesses as we live transformed by his Spirit to do good works and thus glorify our Father in heaven.

I am told approximately one-third of the people on our planet are followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is marvelous when you think that Jesus began with twelve not very competent disciples only about 2,000 years ago! But it’s not good enough! God loves everyone on earth! May the prophecy of Jeremiah be fulfilled in our day and may we each be privileged to join God in what he is doing and hopefully, see this prophecy fulfilled in our lifetimes!

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.

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.

Meeting God in the “Woodshed”

Day before yesterday as my wife and I walked on the canal in Indianapolis we approached a fellow talking loudly on a cell phone. I heard some choice words that should not be spoken aloud (or even thought) anywhere, but especially not in a public place.

Sometimes my lack of wisdom is exceeded only by my unlimited stupidity and I do things without considering the full consequences. Unfortunately, that was one of those times. As we walked rapidly past him, I said, “Hey, watch your language.”

I don’t know what I thought that would accomplish, but it certainly wasn’t successful. All I did was add to the foul language in the world, acquire some new names for myself and have my ancestry questioned rather loudly. I realize now I also could easily have gained some nasty bruises if he had decided to do what he was obviously thinking.

I did not recognize my own self-righteous behavior for what it was until several hours later. About four o’clock the next morning I woke early and couldn’t get back to sleep, so, as is my custom, if I can’t sleep, I usually pray. Eventually I came to the time in my prayers when I pray for the lost. At that time I thought of the “cursing man” (So called because we weren’t properly introduced.) but by then I was listening to God instead of being stupid, and the Lord showed me that my self-righteous attitude had interfered with what he had wanted me to do, and was thus a greater sin than that man’s inappropriate language.

I was a child of God and professed to be a “Christ-one” or a Christian, but actually, I had not behaved at all like Christ. The Bible tells us when Jesus saw someone like that he had compassion for them because he saw they were lost, like sheep without a shepherd.” By contrast, when I heard him, I felt contempt because he cared so little for those around him.

I had to spend the next few minutes confessing my sin and asking God to change my self-righteous attitude. I also asked the Lord to help me, the next time I heard something like that, to feel compassion at the moment, rather than several hours later, after I saw my sin in the light of his righteousness. Finally, I prayed for that man and all others like him— asking God to save them and draw them to himself so they could experience his love and become the people their heavenly Father created them to be.

Then I also prayed for myself and all other misguided Christians, who try to do the Holy Spirit’s work of bringing conviction by using the devils tactic of condemnation. It doesn’t work. It never has worked and never will. We cannot accomplish the purposes of God by using the methods of Satan, because God’s methods are a part of his ministry. When we use Satan’s methods we can only do Satan’s work. If we want to do God’s work, we must use God’s methods. In a situation like this, Satan’s method is condemnation and God’s method is unconditional love. I know that! But I don’t always live what I know.

The good that came out of that experience was at least two fold and I hope three. First, by God’s grace, I didn’t get beaten to a pulp and cause that poor lost soul to wind up in prison for attacking a stupid old man. Secondly, probably for the rest of my life, when I pray for the lost, I will remember that man and others like him and, with compassion for their lostness, pray for their salvation. Because, by the grace of God I now love him. And it truly is by God’s grace. Because I dislike vile language, I have never felt unconditional love for those who use it in public. I have, in fact, always felt contempt. I have been totally unaware of my garbage attitude and have always (falsely, I now realize) felt morally superior. The final good I hope will come out of this experience is that God will help me feel compassion for people like that when I hear them, rather than several hours later after he has taken me to the woodshed.

You and I both know it did absolutely no good for me to say what I said. It had the opposite effect of what I thought I wanted, which was to reduce the world of language pollution. If I had used the wisdom and grace of God to just pray silently for him as I passed by, I would not have caused him to sin by inspiring more vile language, I would not have risked the safety of myself and my wife, and I might have been an instrument used of God, in some amazing way that only He fully understands, to bless someone instead of curse them.

I am fully aware, but often forget, that condemnation is a curse far worse than vile language.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .
and that's my view, from Tanner Creek.