"Me First" Christianity

"And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Luke 9:57-62



The two disciples that Jesus was speaking with in this passage share a lot in common with the majority of Christians, including myself at times, that I see in the world today. People say that they want to follow Jesus and be one of His disciples, but there is usually something that prohibits them from being fully surrendered to His calling. In both of these cases, family and friends came in the way of these disciples' walk with Christ. The typical Christian in our churches today are no different than these two men. In our present day and age, education, vocation, relaxation, and self-gratification are the usual culprits for hindering a person's walk with the Lord. You see, many people, past and present, want to do want they want to do, go where they want to go, be who they want to be, and serve how they want to serve without ever considering how or what God would have them do, go, be, and serve. It is apparent that today's Christian has no desire to live a holy life that is pleasing to God, especially if they must give up something that brings them pleasure in order to do so. Every where you turn you see Christians who love the world more than they love their Savior. The Bible makes it crystal clear that you cannot serve God and still hold on to the things of this sin-filled world. The Scriptures also make the unmistakable claim that you cannot follow the Lord and have your own way about things at the same time. Jesus said, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." It is impossible follow Christ until you have denied all right to your self and crucified your own fleshly desires. Jesus could not have made it more clear.

As an example, here is a link to a blog of a pastor in Georgia who wants to let people know how they can dress as cool as he dresses (http://yckg.wordpress.com/2007/07/09/how-to-dress-as-cool-as-me/). This guy is more concerned with a person's wardrobe than he is about the destiny of their soul. Instead of trying to encourage people how look and act like the world, why does this man not encourage people how to be more like Christ. I suppose if he did that, though, he would not be so "cool" anymore and no on would want to follow him. In effect, he is saying, "Jesus, I will follow you if you will allow me first to dress as hip as I can." Give me a break. God is not fooled or impressed by such immaturity.

If we are to lead others to the Savior of this world we must be dedicated to Him. The people of this world are not impressed with Christians who look, talk, think, dress, and imitate them in every possible way and then say that they are not of the world. The world wants to see something different and distinct. They want to see people who have convictions and are willing to abide by and stand up for those convictions. More importantly, though, God wants His children to be devoted entirely to Him and Him alone. He wants Christians to be "unspotted from the world." God said that "whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." He also said, "If any man love the world, the love of the father is not in him."

There was another man in the Bible who said "me first," but his attitude was entirely different than that of the other two. Paul, writing to Timothy, said, "Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting." Oh, how we should all want our Lord and Savior to emanate from within us so that we, too, would be examples for the lost world! That will only happen, though, when we surrender every area of our life to follow and serve Him. Are you surrendered to Jesus, or in your heart are you saying "me first"?

All to Jesus I surrender
All to Him I freely give
I will ever love and trust Him
In His presence daily live

All to Jesus I surrender
Humbly at His feet I bow
Worldly pleasures all forsaken
Take me Jesus, take me now

All to Jesus I surrender
Make me, Savior, wholly thine
Let me feel the Holy Spirit
Truly know that Thou art mine

All to Jesus I surrender
Lord, I give myself to Thee
Fill me with Thy love and power
Let Thy blessing fall on me

Christians and Smoked Brisket

After reading the title to this entry, you may be asking what do briskets and Christians have to do with each other. In this post I will attempt to link the two together to provide an interesting illustration.

First, let me say that I love smoked brisket. I have a smoker at home and try to smoke something at least once a month if financially able to do so. Nothing, according to my taste buds, is more palatable than a good heaping portion of brisket that has been cooked long and slow over hickory or mesquite smoke. A brisket, however, has not always been so favorable to those doing the cooking or the ones doing the consuming. In times past this hunk of meat was simply thrown out and was not used for anything, because the meat is very tough and stringy. The brisket comes from the area of the neck between the shoulders of a cow or steer. Cooked in a traditional manner, you would have to chew for a week to be able to swallow a piece of this meat. In most cases it is good for nothing and fit only for the garbage heap, not the table.

However, when you take this otherwise worthless piece of meat, and cook it at a low temperature (approx. 150 - 225 degrees) for an extended amount of time (12 - 16 hours) an amazing transformation takes place that is not seen by the human eye. A brisket literally changes its chemistry. It is transformed from something detestable to something delectable. It changes from something worthless to something exceptional. This piece of beef that was once thrown out with the entrails metamorphoses into one of the most tender, tastiest cuts of meat. A brisket is genuinely changed from the inside.

I am smoking a brisket for my son's birthday party tomorrow and, as I was preparing the meat with seasonings, it occurred to me how much a Christian and a smoked brisket share with one another. Before a person places their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, they are as worthless and vile as a brisket once was. In the fifth chapter of the book of Galatians the apostle Paul says, "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like." When writing to the Corinthians Paul, giving the same basic list of the deeds of the flesh, says, "and such were some of you." Man is a corrupt, wretched, reprehensible creature.

However, like a brisket meeting smoke and time, when a person meets Jesus Christ and gives their life to Him, they, too, are changed from the inside. An amazing change takes place within their hearts. They are the ones whose chemistry is rewritten. They have now become something delectable to the Lord's taste rather than something detestable. They are the one's who are transformed from something worthless to something exceptional. Paul went on to say to the Galatatians that, "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." In his first letter to the Corinthians Paul said, "but ye are washed, but ye are sacntified, but ye are justified" to the same people he said "and such were some of you."

People want "proof" that Jesus is who He says He is. The only evidence they need is the change in the lives of the people who have made Him their Lord and Savior. The only way for someone to produce the fruit of the Spirit is to have their lives totally changed. Paul, in Second Corinthians, says that if a person has trusted in Jesus that he is a totally new creature and the old person he was has passed away. Only one person can make such a change in a person's life and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. So, the next time you are savoring a piece of smoked brisket remember the change that that brisket under went and examine your own life to see if you have been transformed.

No Regrets

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith."

The apostle Paul to his understudy Timothy

When all of life is over for you, will you be able to look back and say that you have no regrets. Will you be able to say, as Paul, I have finished my course? Or, will you look back from your death bed and lament the fact that there were things you were supposed to do, things you should have done, and things you could have done, but, for what ever reason, you did not accomplish them? Is there any thing that you left undone that will cause remorse?

I am not speaking of the nominal things in life, such as a place you would have liked to visit or an activity in which you would have liked to have participated. I am referring to the things that really matter in life. Was there someone in your life who you failed to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with? Did God call you to do something and you ran the other way like the prophet Jonah? Was your relationship with the family God gave you in good order? What kind of legacy will you leave for your children and grand children to remember you? When you pass into eternity will you be ushered into the presence of the Most High God, or will you perish in the everlasting fire with the devil and his angels? What are you building on your "salvation foundation" (see I Corinthians 3:11 KJV)? When your works are tried by God's holy fire will they burn or will they stand? I can go on with the questions, but, instead, I will progress. The reason I ask these questions is this: I don't want my life to be about what I could have, should have, or would have done. That should be your desire as well.

First, and foremost, above all else be sure of your salvation. Jesus has said that "Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my father which is in heaven." Jesus later tells us what the will of the Father is: "And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day." What would surprise you the most if you died and woke up in hell? Please, please, please be sure that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Saviour.

Secondly, live your life in a way that will be well pleasing to God. I can say that I have not always done that. There were several years of my life that God was just an after thought. When I look back when I am old and gray, that is something that will haunt me. I would like to share a personal story here. God had called me to be a preacher when I was 17, but I let life get in the way. I let my own plans get in the way. I let my own personal sin get in the way. Just as he did to Jonah, God sent storms into my life to wake me up to my problems. However, the more storms He sent, the more I hardened my heart. Then one morning I went to church to see Adam (my oldest son) in his first Patch the Pirate program when God really got a hold of me. A missionary from Brazil was preaching that morning. He told the story of an old man in a church there who had surrendered to preach when he was a young man, but he never did any thing about it. Now, he was in his late 60's and all he could do was cry, because he had waited too long. Man, that hit me right in the heart. I knew God had orchestrated the events of that morning (the program, the missionary) to speak to me. I knew that my time was running out to get my life straight, for God has said that His Spirit will not always strive with man. Believe me, It had been striving for some time at that point. I had quenched the Spirit numerous times and had the feeling in my soul that I was getting close to the end of God's mercy and that He was about to deliver me to Satan for the destruction of my flesh. How close I really was I do not know, but I was very concerned about it. Anyway, I knew in my heart that I did not want to be that old man the missionary had spoken of. I could no longer ignore God's calling for my life. That is where I am now. I have been accepted to Baptist Bible College and will begin classes on January 23. That brings me full circle.

I am going about the course that God has set before me. When I am on my bed of death, I want to be able to say that "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, and I have kept the faith." Because God is merciful I am able to have another chance to do that. I will always have to wonder about the years I wandered from God. Is there someone in hell today, because I was not there to tell them about the love of God? Was there someone who could have used a word of encouragement from me, but I was not around to give it? I will not know until I get to Heaven and I will not dwell on it at this time. I have asked and received the forgiveness of God for my past failures and sins. He remembers them no more and I am working on forgetting them myself. I am sure there will be some lamenting for me as I prepare to pass into God's presence, but it is my goal from this point forward in my life that I will be able to say "I have no regrets." Will you be able to say that, as well?

A Crying Voice

Do you ever feel alone in this evil world? Do you ever feel like you are swimming upstream against the tide of complacency? Do you ever feel like you are peddling a bike up a steep hill and you keep looking back and you are not making much progress? I often wonder if that is the way John the Baptist felt in the days just before Jesus' public ministry began. To my knowledge, the Bible never says why John was living in the desert, dressed in camel's hair, and eating locusts. Could it be that he felt this way and had to get away from the religious leaders and the apostasy of his day? I think it is a very good possibility. John the Baptist was called to prepare the way of Jesus through the calling of repentance. Even the religious establishment at the time was included in that call to repentance.

I, too, feel very alone in this world and that I am fighting a losing battle. God has called me to be an evangelist; to preach salvation to sinners and to edify and exhort true believers in Jesus Christ to a life of holiness and separation from the world. I believe with all my heart, mind, and soul that God has gifted me with the spiritual gift of prophecy. That does not mean that I have the ability to foretell the future. Rather, it means that I am a "forthteller" or one who speaks forth the mind of God and the truth contained in His written word. Sometimes it may seem that I am lacking in compassion or that I am being judgmental. However, that is not my intention. My intention is to compel people to live a life that God is very well pleased with. Believe me, any act of righteousness that I commit is only by power of Christ living in me. As Isaiah says, "all my righteousnessess are as filthy rags." There is nothing "good" about David Oates apart from Jesus Christ. I am low down, dirty, rotten sinner the same as anyone else, but I have been made righteous through the saving grace of my saviour Jesus Christ. That is what compels me to "preach" the Word of God.

God sent His beloved Son into this world in order to redeem it from the curse of sin. John 3 says that God did not send Jesus to condemn the world, but to give life everlasting. We are already condemned, but God sent a way of escape from the punishment of sin. For this to be accomplished, blood had to be shed. It was the blood of God Himself that was shed at Calvary for my sins and for yours. It was not the blood of some worthless animal. It was the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. When you are able to grasp that concept, you should be willing to live a life, by the power of God, that is without spot or blemish. You should want to remove yourself from the practices, customs, traditions, ways, etc. of this world. It should be reflected in the way we dress, the music we listen to, the places we go, the things we read, and every single aspect of our lives. There is a call for personal holiness through personal sacrifice. You cannot be a follower of Jesus without denial of self and personal sacrifice. Jesus said, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." To follow Christ will cost you something. It could cost you your physical life, and it should cost you your lifestyle. If your lifestyle is accpeted by the world, then there is something wrong with your commitment to Christ.

When you commit yourself to holy living, do not be surprised when others in religous circles classify you as a Pharisee or a legalist. There are other things you will be called, but these are their favorite two. I am not saying you have to live a life according to God's standards to be saved from your sins or to find acceptance from Him. That is what the Pharisees and legalists were saying in the early Church era. I am saying that righteous living is a direct result of a committed relationship with Jesus Christ. It should be our greatest desire to be as totally opposite from the world as possible. Does that mean we are to do as the Amish and form our own little community. By no means is that what I am implying. If you have a bowl of red and blue jelly beans and are told to separate the blue from the red, can you leave them in the same bowl and still separate them? Of course you can. However, you cannot keep them mixed together and still call them separated. In the same way, you cannot hold on to the ways of the world and be separated from it as well.

That brings me to why I titled this entry as "A Crying Voice". Over the last few weeks, I have been trying to think of name to call my ministry. I did not want to call it the David Oates Evangelistic Ministry. I don't want my ministry or its name to reflect on me personally. I wanted the name to show what my ministry is about. God has laid on my heart the name "A Crying Voice Ministries", because, just like John the Baptist in his day, I am a voice crying in the wilderness of sin in the 21st century. In no way do I classify myself in the same category as John the Baptist, but, in a sense, I, along with others, am preparing the way of Jesus' second coming. How? By the preaching of salvation to sinners and the edification and exhortation to holy living and separation from the world by true believers of Jesus Christ. Most of the time it is lonely and feels like a losing battle, but I will continue to cry.

Oswald Chambers on Holiness

"The holiness which God demands is impossible unless a man can be re-made from within, and that is what Jesus Christ has undertaken to do. Jesus Christ does not merely save people from hell: "thou shalt call His name JESUS; for it is He that shall save His people from their sins", i.e., make totally new moral men. Jesus Christ came from a holy God to enable men, by the sheer might of His Redemption, to become holy. "Ye shall be holy. for I the Lord your God am holy."

from "Biblical Ethics" page 16

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"Holiness is the characteristic of the man after God's own heart."

from "Biblical Ethics" page 16

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"You can never make yourself holy by external acts, but, if you are holy, your external acts will be the natural expression of holiness."

from "Run Today's Race" page 23

Avoiding the Snare of Narnia

"I had some ado to prevent Joy and myself from relapsing into Paganism in Attica! At Daphni it was hard not to pray to Appollo the Healer. But somehow one didn't feel it would have been very wrong - would have only been addressing Christ sub specie Apollinius. We witnessed a beautiful Christian village ceremony in Rhodes and hardly felt a discrepancy."

“Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place… certainly the most embarrassing verse in the Bible.The one exhibition of error and the one confession of ignorance grow side by side. That they stood thus in the mouth of Jesus himself and were not merely placed thus by the reporter, we surely need not doubt… The facts, then, are these: that Jesus professed himself (in some sense) ignorant, and within a moment showed that he really was so.”

"There are people in other religions who are being led by God's secret influence to concentrate on those parts of their religion which are in agreement with Christianity, and who thus belong to Christ without knowing it ... For example a Buddhist of good will may be led to concentrate more and more on the Buddhist teaching about mercy and to leave in the background (though he might still say he believed) the Buddhist teaching on certain points. Many of the good Pagans long before Christ's birth may have been in this position"

Would a person who claims to be a born again Christian sit under the preaching of a man who said the above things? I would hope not. However, millions have no problem sitting for two hours watching a movie based upon a series of books written by this man. Who is this man? It is none other than C.S. Lewis. Lewis had a passion for the occult and was fascinated with mythology and paganism. To think that such a man's writings would not be influenced by his beliefs truly is fantasy. The Chronicles of Narnia, however, are not truly fantasy. Consider the following examples.

On the January 6, 2006 broadcast of Love Worth Finding (teaching/preaching ministry of the late Adrian Rogers) Rogers told of a god of the Greeks named Bacchus, who was the god of wine or drunkeness. In "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" one of the supposed good character's name is Bacchus. Did C.S. Lewis know this? For one so deeply invovled in pagan mythology it is most likely certain. The following is taken from Wikipedia: "Dionysus or Dionysos (also known as Bacchus in both Greek and Roman mythology and associated with the Italic Liber), the Thracian god of wine, represents not only the intoxicating power of wine, but also its social and beneficent influences." This is one example of Lewis's blending of error with the truth.

Another example is found in the last book of the Narnia series. One of the servants of Tash (Satan figure) is told by Aslan (supposed Jesus Christ figure) that all his service done unto Tash would be counted as service done to Aslan. In other words you can serve Satan and it will be counted as service to the Lord Jesus Christ if you are sincere in that service. As much as I wish I was, I am not making this up. I believe the book is titled "The Last Battle". Go to a bookstore and look it up for yourself if you do not believe me.

Furthermore, C.S. Lewis said in his own words "Some people seem to think that I began by asking myself how I could say something about Christianity to children; then fixed on the fairy tale as an instrument; then collected information about child-psychology and decided what age group I'd write for; then drew up a list of basic Christian truths and hammered out 'allegories' to embody them. This is all pure moonshine. I couldn't write in that way at all. Everything began with images; a faun carrying an umbrella, a queen on a sledge, a magnificent lion. At first there wasn't even anything Christian about them; that element pushed itself in of its own accord" (Of Other Worlds, p. 36). If Lewis himself said that "The Chronicles of Narnia" were not written as allegories, then why do Christians today insist that they are? Since they are not allegories then we must take them for what they are, without the presupposition of what or who the characters supposedly represent. If the Narnia books can be claimed as allegory, then why can a person not claim any book as an allegory and base it upon their own beliefs? In short, these books are not "Christian", even though they may possess elements of Christianity.

So, should a person read the books or watch the movies? That is up for each person to seek guidance from God. Keep this in mind, however. God says that "A little leaven, leaveneth the whole lump" (Galatians 5:9). This means that even just a little error or sin mixed in with the truth makes it all in error or sinful. You see, a partial truth, even if it is 99% true, is not the truth. If I gave you a plate of food and told you that I put just a tiny bit of poison in it, would you eat any of it? If not, then why are we willing to eat of the spiritual food of Narnia when it contains more than just a tiny bit of spiritual poison? Ask God in prayer if it is okay for you to watch this movie or read the Narnia books, even though they go against His word and His truth.

Finally, let me share one more thing. When this movie was first released to the theatres, I did not seek to find the evils in it. Honestly, I did not know much about "The Chronicles of Narnia" or about C.S. Lewis. In fact, I gave my brother-in-law some books written by Lewis as a gift for being in my wedding back in 1999. (Josh, forgive me. I should have examined things more closely.) However, when "the world" praised these movies just as much as "Christians", I knew in my heart that something was not right, so I had to search for myself. As I John 4:1 says "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." Satan usually does not present things totally against God. By that I mean that he usually presents things as being good, but mixing error with them. Remember, he is an angel of light. He is very good at decieving people. Read Genesis 3 where he deceived Eve. He did it by mixing truth with error. I believe that this is what he has done with this movie. I wish everyone reading this could see inside my heart and how much I am pained that those who have put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ cannot or will not see Satan's hand on this movie.

Please check the following links for documentation and other information regarding C.S. Lewis and "The Chronicles of Narnia".

http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/exposes/lewis/general.htm

http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/05/narnia.htm