Grace

It seems to me quite ironic that in the Christian world it is the concept of what grace is that separates groups.  Historically it has been East verses West, Luther verses Rome, Jansenist verses Jesuits, Calvinism verses Arminianism, Conservatives verses Liberals and so forth.  Throw in the differing companion views concerning what is the depravity of man and eternal security and you have a church not quite ready to sit down together at the communion table.

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened,

so that you will know what is the hope of His calling,

what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. (Eph: 1: 18-19)

It was near the end of my 22^nd year when I asked Jesus to come into my heart as Savior and Lord. Until then, and despite growing up in a religious environment, I had walked in darkness. This darkness was not brought about because of my actions, rebellious as they indeed were. It was there because I did not know the Lord of light. My religion taught that my baptism as an infant brought into my soul sanctifying grace which canceled something I was born with, original sin, and that sanctifying grace would stay with me unless I committed a mortal sin. I was taught that because of baptism I was alive in Christ and would one day join Him in eternity.

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,

in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world,

according to the prince of the power of the air,

of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. (Eph: 2:1-2)

But I was not alive in Christ.  My spirit had not been reborn through baptism and I was the lord of my own soul.  Oh yes, I knew about God. I knew that my church taught that Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world. I knew there was someone called the Holy Spirit. But I did not actually know Jesus or comprehend God in the slightest. I had nothing but theology to base hope on. My prayers then were not a conversation with Someone who later on had changed my heart and opened my eyes to a spiritual world that was just as real as the physical. Although I fell quite short of living a holy life I believed that I was as good as the next guy and that God, if He really existed, would give me full credit for being a nice guy.

But God, being rich in mercy,

because of His great love with which He loved us,

even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive

together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), (Eph: 2: 4-5)

It was finally when I realized that Jesus died for me, personally, that I asked Him to come into my heart and surrendered the lordship of my soul to Him.  That was over 40 years ago and everything in my life changed;  not because I adopted a set of religious beliefs but because it was now my desire to follow Him and be lead by his Holy Spirit where ever They would lead.  The Word of God became alive to me and I would read it and study it and meditate upon it.  In doing so I discovered that there were in my religion quite a large number of beliefs and practices that were not found in scripture, ran contrary to scripture, or were supported by certain scriptures used out of context. 

For by grace you have been saved through faith;

and that not of yourselves,

it is the gift of God;

not as a result of works, so that no man can boast. (Eph: 2: 8-9)

My original church's concept of grace was one of these.  To me it seems that in the above scripture grace simply means that God gave us salvation even though we didn't deserve it or work for it.  We believe that Jesus death and resurrection were personally for us and God responds by doing something.  Grace means that we have found favor with God.  

But beginning in the 5th century St. Augustine started seeing grace as being a substance that could be produced, stored and then transferred mainly but not exclusively through (drum roll please) the sacraments of the church (thus requiring a priesthood).  Grace was produced by the life, sufferings and death of Jesus (an immeasurable amount), the sufferings of martyrs, the anguish of Mary at seeing Jesus crucified and other like events.  This grace is kept in a storehouse located somewhere in Heaven but managed by the church in partnership with God.  Grace can also be produced through prayer and good works and doing religious acts that are proscribed by the administering church and these are credited to the account of the doer (but can be transferred to someone else).

Thus the view of salvation is that all are born with a soul that inherits the original sin of Adam and Eve.  At baptism a soul is infused with the substance of grace which covers (but apparently does not dissolve) original sin and as long as that grace stays there a person will go to Heaven.  All subsequent sin resides in the soul and needs an infusion of (actual) grace to cancel out or dissolve that sin.  Somehow the church has determined that grace is not transferred in sufficient quantity during one's lifetime to remove all sin and so a soul when it's body dies must go to a holding place until such time as enough grace can be applied.

For we are His workmanship,

created in Christ Jesus for good works,

which God prepared beforehand

so that we would walk in them. (Eph: 2: 10)

When I surrendered my life to Jesus it cost me everything.  I DIED IN CHRIST.  In return my spirit was reborn and I became a new creation and the Holy Spirit resides in me.  The struggle now is to yield my soul to what the Holy Spirit desires.  Every day I desire my own will but am confronted with the fact that I am no longer the lord of my life.  

I want to please Him.  I want to be in His will.  I want so desperately for others to know that all they see in this world is but an illusion and that there will be nothing better for them than to experience a life in Christ, free from the demands of this godless world.  There are crowns in Heaven and though I do not live to earn a jewel in a crown I am often comforted by the thought that there are rewards for those that hold fast.  Even then I am weak - but His grace is sufficient for me.

Josefina And Ignacio

During the course of a driving test today the dad of a Hispanic girl found out that I was a Christian and he told me this story:

Earlier in the 1900's two men traveled to a rural area in Mexico to a little village set in a valley.  It was actually smaller than a village and more properly could be called a ranch.  As they were greeting the local inhabitants they were told to avoid talking to a couple known as Josefina and Ignacio.  "They are crazy" the people said.  "They believe in a god who is everywhere."

The two men started thinking about this and they thought that if there was a god who was everywhere then he could be found on top of the local mountain.  They climbed the mountain and started calling out; "God of Josefina and Ignacio.  Where are you?"  Again they called out louder; "God of Josefina and Ignacio.  Where are you?"  A third time they called out as loud as they could; "God of Josefina and Ignacio.  Where are you?"

Just then there is lightning and thunder and the God of Josefina and Ignacio appears to them.  They fall on their faces and begin to speak in tongues.

When they get up it is night and they notice that in the valley there is a house that is on fire.  They head down to see it and at the same time the people of the village/ranch wrap rags and tar around large sticks to make touches and they go check out the burning house as well.  When the locals get there they see the two men approaching.  The faces of the two men are glowing.

The dad tells me that this was the beginning of the Assemblies of God Church in Mexico.  The men later established a church there which was known as a tabernacle and started many other tabernacles throughout the region in Mexico also.  He said that this story can be found in the annals of the Assemblies of God for Mexico.

"And what is your interest in this story?" I ask after we complete the test.

"One of those men was my uncle."

So I Gave A Ride To A Homeless Guy . . .

This has been quite a week at work for me.

First there were the two different women who on the same afternoon went berserk after finding out they failed their driving test.  The woman from India, who was taking the test for the second time because she was driving on the wrong side of the road and blew through a stop sign the first time, sped up when a traffic light turned yellow and missed it by, oh, about 30 yards.  Through tears she told me (I didn't know she could speak English because her husband was translating for her) that this is all so stupid and it shouldn't matter if she made one little mistake and she will never take another driving test again - EVER!  I smiled and said that was OK and when I got out of the car and was walking away she began a tremendous rant on her husband, slamming the car door at least three times.

An hour after that came a 17 year old who had previously failed twice.  She would not make eye contact with me and I could feel the heat the minute we began doing paperwork.  She barely passes the parking lot portion so we go out for our drive and throughout the test Audrey is making exaggerated head checks but I can see from looking at her eyes in the rear view mirror that she indeed is looking but notices nothing.  We are on busy 28th street and I tell Audrey to change lanes to the left when safe.  She does her head check, looks right at the car in the other lane and starts to move over to the left.  Her mom in the back seat says; "Audrey, NO".  The other car beeps their horn and Audrey says; "What are they so hot and bothered about?"  I look back at the mom and put my finger to my lips to indicate that she must keep quite.  When get on the freeway and I again ask Audrey to change lanes to the left when safe.  Three times she does her blind spot check, three times she begins to move left, three times there is a car there and three times her mom says; "Audrey, NO".  By this time we are traveling 40 mph when the speed limit is 70 mph.

I explain all this to dear Audrey when we manage to get back to go, tell her that she failed because of the lane changes and the expressway speed, show her what she can do to correct the driving problems she has  and then am not the least bit surprised when she does not take it well.  "I AM ALMOST 18 YEARS OLD.  MY LIFE IS OVER.  I WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO GET A DRIVER'S LICENSE.  I DID SO WELL ON THE PARKING AND THEN I FAIL THIS STUPID DRIVING".  Her mother, who is part of Audrey's problem because she obviously has been making all of Audrey's driving decisions for her understands what I am saying and tries to calm her down but to no avail.  "MOM, YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND.  I WILL NEVER TRY TO DRIVE AGAIN.  I AM ALMOST 18 AND MY LIFE IS OVER".  I smile and say it is time for me to leave and can hear Audrey ranting in the parked car for about another 10 minutes.

The next day I had an 18 year old guy who entered the residential area at the beginning of the driving portion of the test and went to the left side of the road,  As we approached the first stop sign I tell Carlos to turn left.  He positions his car on the left side of the road, turns left and now I'm wondering how long it will be before he corrects himself.  There wasn't any other traffic so we go 4 blocks on the left side.  When we turn left onto 32nd, a much busier street, Carlos begins to enter the left lane but sees a couple of cars approaching and swerves over to the right lane.  We go immediately back to our parking lot and I tell Carlos; "If we were in England I might have better news for you."

Before Carlos showed up I had two other 18 year old guys on the same day who were sitting at a red light waiting to turn left and seeing no other traffic they begin to turn left.  This also happened twice this week at another intersection with two young girls on a left turn but with traffic.  Because there are other turning lanes but with out any cars needing to turn and those turning lanes prohibit through traffic from going my ladies see no one moving and they think perhaps they can turn left on red.  Ah, no. I need to stop all four from proceeding any further.  At least when we get back these guys and girls understood the error of their ways and despite failing seemed quite contrite.

Things lightened up a bit when I get into the car with bearded 42 year old Marquis.  Even though the heater was working fine Marquis wears his fur lined winter gloves and hat the entire route.  His upper front teeth are gold and he is decked out with diamond studs in his ears and a nice gold chain on one wrist with a gaudy watch on the other.  The watch band is about 2 inches wide and the face about 5 inches in diameter and both have about 4 rows of either diamonds or more likely cubic zirconia.  I couldn't resist myself so I say; "Marquis, what time is it?"  Marquis says "Huh?" and then after about 30 seconds remembers that he has a watch so he stares at the two watch hands on the watch face that doesn't have any numbers for awhile before I have mercy on him and laugh and tell him that I like his watch.

I ask Marquis what he does for work and he informs me that he is disabled.  When I ask what happened he tells me that he was just walking on a sidewalk one day and fell down.  It turns out he needed a hip replacement which he got two years ago but his hip still hurts.  Now the other hip is going bad.  He doesn't know what he is going to do.

All of this warmed me up for today.  My first client forgot to bring a required document but because they came quite early I was able to send them home to fetch it.  This gave me time to walk over to the nearby gas station for a bathroom break.  As I'm leaving the station store I'm met by a disheveled bearded guy about 50 years old who has a gallon of milk in one hand, a tiny red gas container in the other and two one dollar bills clutched in the hand with the milk.  He asks me if I can give him a ride to his van which is parked on 36th street.  Since that would only be a mile and since I had the time I told him I would.

As we are driving I introduce myself and he tells me his name is David.  In a very low and gravely voice David says; "My van ran out of gas.  I bummed two dollars off a woman at the station.  I'm homeless and I live in my van.  I don't know what to do."  I ask him how long he has been living in his van and he tells me for 4 months.  Then he repeats: "I'm homeless.  I live in my van.  I don't know what to do."  David then asks me if I have ever been homeless.  I tell him not really but that I'm now living with my mother-in-law so maybe that counts for something.  Oh course it doesn't and tonight Jackie and I are in a nice warm bed after having something decent to eat and yesterday we were surrounded by a load of kids and grandkids at Piper's 5th birthday and we were all having a great time.

We get to David's beat up van which is parked at the back of an apartment complex.  As he pushes himself out of my car holding his gallon of milk and half gallon of gas I hand him ten bucks and wish him God Bless.  He says God Bless back then starts to pour the gas into his van.  David is not all there and I don't know how to help him and although there are a number of places in Grand Rapids for David to stay and to get fed he still remains homeless.  He lives in his van.  He doesn't know what to do.  There are things far worse than failing your driving test.

The Death Of Reason

Last week I had an interesting discussion with a guy named Roy who has been a missionary in France for the past 13 years.  Ten per cent of the French population are Muslim Arabs who have immigrated or are descendents of immigrants from Northern Africa (France was a colonial power there) and that people group has been his main focus but the need for evangelism is great throughout the entire population.

Roy informed me that France is the most atheistic country in Western Europe with estimates that only one percent of the population have a personal relationship with Jesus.  Although legally France has freedom of religion the vast majority of people believe it is ignorant to espouse belief in a higher power and people that do so are often ridiculed.  The schools on the one hand teach the history of all the abuses of the organized church and on the other promote reasons not to believe in God.

In 1965 the percent of French claiming affiliation with the Roman Catholic Church was 87%.  In 2005 the percent was down to 65%. with only 5% of those attending mass on a regular basis.  Catholicism in France is now either only a cultural identification or if practiced is often intertwined with strong Marian belief and practices.

Roy said he knows many Catholics and ex Catholics who are believers.  He said it can be difficult for the ex Catholics to evangelize their countrymen because they now recognize the spiritual deception found in certain aspects of Catholic faith and practice such as in Marianism and cannot get past the idea that the only solution is to completely break with the Catholic Church like they did.  This of course puts the cart before the horse:   First one needs to encounter Jesus personally and then they need to have the Holy Spirit be the One to lead when and where He wills.  This is spiritual warfare 101.  As an ex Catholic myself I can easily understand the emotions.  I know other ex Catholics who at first were very bitter feeling that they had been spiritually deceived in the Catholic Church and bitterness is not a pathway too offer grace to others.

Roy told me that French history has much to do with the current state of Christianity in the country.  Church and state were strongly intertwined throughout much of France's past.  The Catholic Church were huge landowners, clergy were responsible for education and most civil records were kept by the Church.  After the Reformation the Huguenots (French Calvinists) became a small but influential part of French politics and this eventually led to a pogrom in 1572 where tens of thousands of Huguenots were slaughtered.  Guilt and slaughters obviously run both ways but in the 1700's a movement called The Enlightenment hit France.  This  eventually lead to the French Revolution which hated both monarchy and church.  The revolution eliminated the monarchy, confiscated all property owned by the church, made the education system secular and controlled by the state and transferred all record keeping to the state.  Reason was the new god, the Enlightenment authors the new apostles and woe to any who did not believe.

The Catholic Church initially survived in France but as a whole became much more focused on any of the practices and beliefs rejected by the Reformers.  The Catholic Church's response to the rapid changes in science, industry, education and all the rest of the dawning new age was to embrace all that was "mystical" in Catholic practice and doctrine, especially regarding Mary.  A religion emphasizing works, devotion and obedience which did not have as it's core the need to have a personal relationship with Christ, both recognizing Him as Savior and desiring Him as Lord, could not compete with a society and education system that was not just secular but anti faith as well.    

Today the French value education above all else.  They believe that education is the key to everything.  Roy told me that the roads were getting bad and the French solution was to put more money into education so that people could learn to be better drivers.  After years of that not working someone came up with the idea that maybe we should fix the roads.  They did and the auto death rate dropped dramatically.  Who knew?

Roy also told me that the French are the most pessimistic people in all of Europe.  Yes they love and enjoy life but when it's over that's all there is.  They grieve terrible when someone they know dies because they will never see them again and that's the end of that person's existence.  If someone's wife were to die let's say in an auto accident and the person responsible were to get a slap on the wrist and only serve a few years in prison the family will be very bitter toward that person because he robbed them of the only time they could ever have with her.  They feel cheated.

From time to time I have prayed for revival to come to France.  It is the country of my name sake, Robert de la Berge who emigrated to New France (Canada) from the Normandy region in France in the 1600's.  He and all the generations of LaBarges were Catholic until me.  After my conversation with Roy I am struck by another concern as well.  It seems that our country is where France was not that long ago.  The government is moving more and more into controlling the education system and the influence of the state into all areas of life is continuing to expand every year.  Gradually all references to God are being removed and people who  defend traditional values are being ridiculed.

This is not an accident.  Our society in America is being deliberately moved toward what atheistic and liberal  Christian leaders see as the French ideal.  Our countries spiritual DNA saw rights and freedoms as coming from God and treated man and government as imperfect.  Many leaders prayed for guidance and gave public thanks to God  for His blessings.  Today we are being taught to believe that rights and freedoms come from the state and man is on the path to being more noble, albeit through education.  And in the course of this all, step by step, we are surrendering our precious freedoms.  This happens when anything like government or religion substitutes for the move of the Holy Spirit and has been wisely called the tyranny of Utopianism.

Utopia needs a strong leader over a strong state so that conditions will be "fair" for all.  Although history has show us time and time again that it doesn't work the idea of Utopia motivates the man without faith who must also believe that man is basically good and will do what is right for society if he is only shown the perfection of reason.

But man cannot build a perfect world because he is imperfect and was designed by God to be dependent on Him and to be led by His Holy Spirit.  Man cannot build a perfect world because the god of this world is in rebellion against the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.  Man cannot build a perfect world because the greatest minds of this age are in the end not wiser that a simpleton who has trust in God.

I pray for revival to come to France and to come to America as well.  I see in this not the tyranny of religion which demands obedience to a creed or belief but rather for the power of redeemed and changed lives to infuse society with faith, hope and love - and a rebirth of true reason.        

Nd

I had a dream earlier this week, admittedly fueled by my dinner of Hungry Howies pizza and chased down with a couple handfulls of cheddar Gold Fish crackers, where I remembered that my nephew Peter Johnson had invented a new word.

If you knew Peter you would understand that since he is just the type of fellow to invent new words and actually have a chance of getting them accepted into the English language that this would not seem strange to me in any way.

Leaving the house where we were and remembering that Peter had added to our language I spun around, went back inside and asked him what that word was again.  Peter told me it was "nd" (pronounced nid but spelled nd for brevity sake).  The meaning is akin to "I don't care" or "it doesn't matter to me" and probably has it's origins in the phrase "I do Not give a Damm".

My mind must have picked this up from a recent statement of Peter's on Facebook where he commented that since Boston and St. Louis were his two least favorite teams he would be thinking instead about next year's World Series when his KC team would finally rise to the top (or - Nd on this year's World Series).  My somewhat logical dream intersected Peter's impossible dream and so there you have it, a new word is birthed.

Later on that night I had a dream where I was in the back yard of the house I grew up in on 31st street in Holland.  The house had been sold two years ago to a Vietnamese woman who was now selling it and her son was ripping down branches from a willow tree in the back corner with members of his gang but were being told to stop by a group of a dozen high school band students who arrived on the property in formation dressed in their UCLA blue shorts and shirts.  I could go on from here but then you might be prompted to share one or more of your dreams with me and really, nd.