On the one hand, my gut reaction to Jones’ plan is frustration: does he really think this is an effective or even legitimate way to demonstrate the truth of Christianity? Make no mistake about it, I do NOT endorse this kind of action. On the other hand, the criticisms leveled at Jones in the national press hardly constitute rational discourse. Most of them boil down to “I thought Christian were supposed to love everyone?! How can you be so hate-filled?”

I support Jones’ willingness to take a stand against the teachings of Islam and against the current culture of unwillingness to think critically about religious truth-claims. I just don’t support the way he’s going about it and, to some extent, I’m embarrassed that he and I are on the same team. I don’t know him, so I can’t say if he’s as hate-filled as many people in the media are saying, but his interest in a public burning of the Qua’ran is hard to square with the idea of a pastor who’s filled with the love of Christ.

Don’t misunderstand me: I’m not saying that being loving means ignoring the truth. In fact, to my mind, ignoring the truth about Islam vs. Christianity (and yes, it is a vs. thing) isn’t loving at all. If I know someone’s headed into a minefield, love compels me to point out what I know will be the result of their path.

But, if anything, the controversy that Jones has stirred up is having the opposite effect of what he intended. Rather than causing people to consider the false and inflammatory (no pun intended) teachings of the Qua’ran, which led some radical Muslim groups to execute the 9/11 attacks in the U.S., the current fiasco seems to be giving Islam a white-wash. Prominent imams are being quoted in international media as saying that Jones is simply ignorant and that the Qua’ran “has some of the most beautiful passages about Christ Jesus throughout, as well as Moses, Abraham and all of the prophets he reads about and says he follows in the Bible” (Plemon el-Amin of Atlanta, quoted on CNN). So there you have it: Christianity and Islam are basically the same thing and only the ignorant fail to see that.

Of course, no honest Muslim actually thinks that Christianity and Islam are compatible. Informed and thoughtful Muslims, like informed and thoughtful Christians, know that the fundamental teachings of the two faiths are contradictory. For instance, Islam rejects the Bible as being hopelessly corrupted and untrustworthy. Islam also explicitly denies the Trinity, the crucifixion/resurrection of Jesus and the notion of salvation by faith, all foundational, indispensable doctrines of Christianity. For its part, Christianity denies the inspiration of the Qua’ran, Muhammad’s status as a genuine prophet and Islam’s soteriology (doctrine of salvation). Since the two faiths clearly contradict on these key issues, they are not compatible worldviews. In such a case, one of three things must be true: 1) Christianity is right and Islam is wrong, 2) Islam is right and Christianity is wrong or 3) both are wrong. This is simple, everyday common sense, but it is utterly missing from the current conversation in the national media.

Also missing are important but inconvenient truths. For instance, Muslim groups have burned Bibles in the recent past yet these events went virtually un-remarked upon in the U.S. media (for a recent example, check out http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/285123/christians_in_gaza_fear_for_their_lives.html?cat=9). More importantly, they went un-denounced by the governments in which those events took place. Yet the U.S. government does not hesitate to denounce similar actions by its own citizens because otherwise this might enrage Muslims around the world. Ironically, the U.S. government doesn’t hesitate to consider building a Muslim Mosque near the site of the 9/11 attacks in spite of the outrage of its own citizens, more than 70% of whom believe the plan is an insult to the victims of the attacks.

As usual, the whole thing’s a big mess and with the media stirring the pot, it’s unlikely that the truth will ever emerge from the mud clearly enough to get a fair hearing.

As they walked away, I said; “we just experienced a glimpse of heaven.” For in heaven, we will not only rejoice in seeing our Savior but, I believe, we will meet once again those people whose lives we impacted. There will be surprises—those whose lives we touched completely unaware; an act of kindness, an encouraging word, a verse of Scripture shared at just the right moment, a cup of cold water. Perhaps we will even see the “ripple effect” of our influence which traveled further than we could have dreamed possible.

There will be others as well—good friends and intentional relationships in whose lives we invested, into whom we poured time, effort and love.  Last night, it took me awhile to fall asleep. I was rejoicing for my dad—who never knew it mattered so much to that man 40 years ago.  And it filled my life again with longing to make a difference.  If it was so exciting to rejoice with my dad, what will it be like to hear “well done” from Jesus and to see the impact of my life on others?

Of course, it requires that I spend my life well today so that I may rejoice in eternity.  So, my friends, press on, give generously, love lavishly and invest without measure.  We may not know until eternity just how much it all matters.

As anyone knows who has walked through grief, it is like getting a new pair of eyeglasses. Everything looks different, at least for awhile. Trivial things seem even more trivial. Many things you once thought were important are suddenly unimportant, and some things that weren’t treated as very important get bumped up a notch. Things begin to appear different to us, because death has a powerful ability to bring things into focus.

One of the things that came into crystal clear focus for me during this time was the shortness of life in comparison to eternity. As the Bible says, our life is like a vapor…here one minute and gone the next…fleeting, momentary, SHORT. It really is a very insignificant length of time in the vast scheme of history and eternity.

This was a truth I focused on often with the students I ministered to when I was on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ. To help them understand this truth, every year I would take the students in my Bible study on a field trip…to a cemetery. Sounds morbid, I know. But it was one of the most life changing times we had together. I took them to the oldest part of the cemetery and gave them one simple mission: to collect several names and dates from people’s gravestones. Then they were to do some simple math: calculate the amount of years each person spent on this earth and the amount of years that have passed since their death. Two small numbers. But those two small numbers always presented big realities.

For example, let’s think about some people we all know. Take George Washington for instance. He was born in 1732 and died in 1799. So he lived for 67 years. He’s been on the other side of this life for 211 years. How about Abraham Lincoln? He lived from 1809 to 1865…alive for 56 years, deceased for 145 years. Thus, these two great presidents, although they had a life of impact, still had an incredibly short life in the great expanse of history. They have spent three to four times longer in the afterlife than in this life. If you go back further in time, the numbers get even more gripping. Take King Tut. His birthdates are believed to be 1341 – 1323 BC. His life lasted a short 18 years. He’s been in the afterlife for over 3,000 years!

The reality is staggering and, quite honestly, gut wrenching. Our time on this earth will be so incredibly short compared to our time spent in the afterlife. The reality of this truth should grip us to the core. Our time on this life will end very soon. Our time in the afterlife will never end.

And yet, how many times do we get so wrapped up in this life that we give little thought to the afterlife? For example, how many of us spend our lives investing financially for a few years of retirement, and do little to invest spiritually in the thousands, even millions of years we will spend in the spiritual realm that comes after this one? How many of us prepare our children for the handful of decades of their adult life without working hard to prepare them for their infinite number of years in the afterlife? And saddest of all, we all expect that when this world ends, we will get to spend all of our years after this in heaven in the presence of God, when many of us gave very little thought or time to Him during our short 70 year or so lifespan on this earth. In fact, some of us can’t even part with a Sunday morning here or there. If we can’t give God the time of day, what makes us think we are entitled to spend an eternity with him?

The Bible makes it clear that there is only one way to spend eternity with God and that is through accepting Jesus’ death on the cross for your sin and seeking to follow him. And we have one short, short, SHORT life in which to do this! How you spend these few years will have radical consequences for your eternal afterlife. God intended us to do one main thing in this life: seek the one who we will spend all eternity with and do His work in telling others how they can spend all eternity with him. And we are supposed to be thinking about the afterlife constantly, not just when someone close to us passes into it.

What are you doing on your short vacation on earth that will prepare you for the real life after this one? Are you living for this short, vapor of a life or are you living for the next one that will outlast this one indefinitely? I know for me, this time has been a wake-up call to live not for this temporary life, but for my eternal one.

I am thankful that my dear step-dad knew Jesus and is experiencing that life on the other side. I am thankful that his eternity will be one filled with all that he loves, including God. And I am thankful that I can know that I will be with him someday. And while my vision has gotten a little clearer through this experience of losing him, I know also that his vision on life and eternity is now crystal clear. Death gave him new glasses too.

As I understand it, the “shining ones” are beings/persons thought to appear in many ancient cultures, often associated with mystical knowledge or key historical developments in culture.  As the story goes – mostly in New Age books and websites –  these beings have been guiding human development for millenia…and maybe even are the ancestors of the first human beings.

One of the first questions we need to ask is:  are these “shining ones” really common in the materials we have from ancient cultures.  Answer:  no, not really.  At least not unless you follow the rather weak logic of “discovery” followed by those who advance these bizarre ideas.

The first stage of “shining ones” discovery depends on the fact that some ancient religious texts – mostly Near Eastern Ones to the best of my knowledge – speak of “shining ones”.  The most popular references are in the Egyptian Book of the Dead where you apparently get lines like:  “behold oh ye shining ones, ye men and ye gods.”  I’m no expert in ancient Egyptian theology, but based on the context my guess is that these are references to Egyptian nobility who were thought to be both human and divine.  Other direct references of which I am aware involve statements like “Follow then the shining ones, the wise, the awakened, the loving, for they know how to work and forbear” attributed to Buddha. Here the reference to “shining ones” is clearly a euphemism for human beings who have attained “enlightenment” (no pun intended…but it’s pretty funny anway!).

Most other references are not direct but involve depictions of persons or beings who “shine” or “glow”.  This is the second stage of “shining ones” discovery.  Using the reasoning that any depiction or description of light associated with someone is actually a reference to the “shining ones”, they are “found” in religious texts and ancient art which depict rays of light surrounding or emanating from a figure.  Since this is a nearly universal means of depicting power, purity and divine blessing, such pictures are common in religious texts and visual art from most cultures throughout history.  Thus the “shining ones” are now “found” in nearly every human culture in history.

 The third stage of “shining ones” discovery involves reading this kind of thing back into other texts even where the depictions are less “obvious.”  For instance, some people try to make the term Elohim from the Hebrew Scriptures into references to these “shining ones” rather than to God.  Similarly, angels are re-interpreted as references to “shining ones.”

 The human connection to the “shining ones” is not really clear to me.  It seems that some people think they are aliens who guided human development.  Others think they are the ancestors of humans, either pointing to our alien origins or, in the case of those who believe the “shining ones” are supernatural creatures, to our inherent divinity.  In the end, the whole thing depends on two things 1)  Man’s need to be connected to something greater than ourselves and 2) Our fondness for conspiracy theories…in this case, the conspiracy is that all the religions of the world have tricked us into misunderstanding our true origins:  either we are descended from divine beings or we are descended from extraterrestrials.

I spent most of July in Guatemala, lecturing on the book of Ephesians to pastors and ministers from all over Central and South America.  Preparing and delivering those lectures was a very enriching time for me and I will probably just go ahead, bite the bullet and write a full-length commentary.  In the meantime, though, I wanted to jot down one or two thoughts that have been particularly impactful.  Today, I want to focus on Eph. 5:18:  …and do not get drunk on wine, in which is dissapation, but instead be filled with the Spirit.

For many Christians, this is a familiar command, yet one which is not easily put into practice.  It’s hard not to read this verse and wonder, “How exactly can I do that?”  The not-getting-drunk part is easy to apply, but the be-filled-with-the-Spirit part is a little less concrete, isn’t it?  I remember when I was involved with Campus Crusade for Christ back in Kent, Ohio in the early 90’s, the staff used to talk about something called “spiritual breathing” in which we were to breathe out sin (i.e. confess our sin to God) and breathe in the power of the Holy Spirit (i.e. appropriate the power of the Holy Spirit for Christian living).  This was an attempt to make Paul’s command in Eph. 5:18 practical on a daily basis, an attempt which I fully endorse.  However, as well-intentioned as the attempt was, it fell a bit short in terms of actual practicality.  “Breathe in/appropriate the power of the Holy Spirit” is really no less abstract than Paul’s original command.

However, in my recent work on Ephesians I realized that Paul’s command is not abstract at all.  In fact, Paul gave us very explicit, practical instruction on how to go about being filled with the Spirit.  This instruction immediately follows the command in question:

…speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; and being subject to one another in the fear of Christ. (Eph. 5:19-21)

Here, Paul uses five verbs, each of which gives us practical instruction on how to be filled by the Spirit.   Actually, to be technically accurate, it might be better to say that Paul instructs us how to position ourselves to be filled by the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is God, of course, and therefore is not subject to our will.  We cannot “make” the Holy Spirit do anything, but we can do things which make us ready to take advantage of the Holy Spirit’s preferred mode of operation.  When Paul says “be filled with the Holy Spirit”, the form of the verb “be filled” reflects this reality.  In the Greek, this verb is a present, passive imperative which is slightly odd.  See, the passive form suggests something that is done to us, rather than something that is done be us…hence “be filled” rather than “fill yourselves”.  Yet the fact that this is an imperative means that there is something which we must actively do in order for this to happen.  So while we cannot “fill ourselves” with the Spirit, we can put ourselves in a position to “be filled” by the Spirit and the five verbs in vv.19-21 outline what it is that we are to do.

Now I should probably point out that not all commentators agree with me on this.  In fact, it appears to me that most commentators take the five verbs in vv.19-21 as the results of being filled by the Spirit rather than the means to being filled by the Spirit.  Thus, most commentators think that being filled by the Spirit will result in speaking to one another in songs and hymns and spiritual songs, singing, making music, giving thanks and being subject to one another.  This interpretation is quite possible, because the five verbs in question here are actually participles which are usually translated in English with an “ing” ending:  speaking, singing, thanking, etc.  And participles may sometimes denote the results of an earlier verb, so I understand how commentators can come to this conclusion. 

However, I disagree with taking these participles as the result of being filled with the Spirit for basically four reasons.  First, if these verbs denote the result of being filled with the Spirit, then we have no practical instruction on how to go about doing what we are commanded to do.  Second, while participles can denote result of an earlier verb, they do not usually do so and probably shouldn’t be understood this way unless there is a clear indication of this in the text, such as the presence of a purpose-word (“so that…”, “in order that…”, etc.).  No such clear indication is present in Eph. 5.  Third, if these five actions are the result of being filled with the Spirit, then no further instruction regarding them would be required.  What I mean is that if being filled with the Spirit results in singing, then this singing is essentially out of our control.  No further instruction on how to sing would be necessary.  And yet these five participles have accompanying instruction, some of which are even in the form of imperatives (direct commands).  We are told what kinds of songs to sing, when to be thankful and given extensive instruction on how to “be subject to one another.”  This instruction goes on well into chapter 6.  But all of this instruction makes little sense if the verbs in question are themselves results.  That would be like saying “jump out of the window with the result that you are falling and I command you to hit the ground at a speed of 60 m.p.h.!”

The fourth reason I differ from many/most commentators in my interpretation of this passage is simply that understanding these verbs as means rather than results fits perfectly with other clear biblical teaching.  Why should singing praise and songs of adoration lead to being filled by the Spirit?  Because as Psalm 22:3 states, “[God] you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel”.[1]  This theme is echoed in other places as well, including Mat. 18:20.  Why should thankfulness lead to being filled by the Spirit?  Because in gratitude we focus on what God has done and thus align ourselves with His purposes rather than being fixated on our circumstances.  Why should ”being subject to one another” lead to being filled with the Spirit?  Because being subject to one another leads to unity and unity within the body of Christ grants us access to the Holy Spirit’s power.  This is a significant theme in Ephesians and is emphasized in many other parts of the New Testament as well. 

On the whole, then, I think it’s pretty clear that Paul is giving us solid, practical instruction on how to go about fulfilling the command to be filled with the Holy Spirit:  we are to worship God in song, we are to be thankful to him in all things and we are to be subject to one another, fostering unity within the body.

One final issue which some of you more observant readers may have already  noted:  understood this way, the command to “be filled with the Holy Spirit” is a command to the church rather than to individuals.  In other words, Paul is giving instruction here on how the church is to operate so that the church will be filled with the Holy Spirit.  This is not a command or instructions for individual believers.  Again, this goes against the grain of most popular teaching on the subject, but two things should be noted.  First, in the original Greek, the command is clearly plural, stressing the communal nature of the instruction.  The lack of a second person plural in English makes this difficult to bring out in translation but it is clear in the original.  Second, saying that the command to “be filled with the Spirit” is intended for the church as a whole does not mean that it does not also apply to individuals.  In fact, this command will only be fulfilled in the church as a whole to the extent that it is fulfilled in the lives of the individuals who make up that church.

So…if we want to experience the power of God in our churches, the answer’s probably not the newest church-growth technique or the latest preaching fad.  If we want to see God move in power among us, maybe we should be concentrating on what God has already told us to do in order to get ready for precisely that!

In our town, we have a tradition each June for parents of graduates to host parties to celebrate the accomplishments of their children.  It is always interesting to talk with the different students and ask about their plan for the coming future.  Answers each year range from the well thought-out to the completely ambiguous.  Most are asking the age-old question of how they can determine God’s will for themselves. 

Initially, I thought about sharing some suggestions concerning how to discern the will of God (e.g. fasting, praying, seeking wise counsel, and waiting on the Lord’s movement for direction).  However, at one of these parties, a young man who just finished college asked me to catch a coffee with him.  We met earlier this week and he shared very candidly that he feels a bit paralyzed as to what his next move should be.  He expressed concern that he might make the wrong choice, and this immobilizes him. 

As I asked him some questions, it became clear to both of us that his paralysis is rooted in fear.  For him, this fear originated from a skewed belief that comes from a phrase often espoused within the church.  It goes something like this:  God has a perfect and a permissive will.  The scope of this article isn’t to defend or deny this, but instead to highlight how this thinking can forge a false belief about God’s character.

 If we don’t sin and make all the right choices God wants us to make, then we get to live a fantastic life within His perfect will.  However, when we sin, or make a choice that really wasn’t God’s best, we are forced to settle for God’s permissive will.  Taking a misstep in a small area might not seem too devastating, but what if I marry the wrong person, or take the wrong job?  Now my whole life has been fouled up by my bad choice!  It’s no wonder that my young friend feels a great weight in his decision.  The sorrow that comes from thinking we’ve missed God’s perfect will usually leads not to repentance, but to death.  

Please understand that I strongly believe in making decisions based on the criterion I referenced earlier.  We must seek the Lord and do our best to discern His direction for us.  Even when we’re unsure how to move, however, we must resist the enemy’s call to fearfully freeze into inactivity.  Instead we can and must rest in the freedom that Romans 8:28-29 brings us.  God works all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.  There is nothing I can do (including making poor decisions outside His will) that can thwart His purposes in my life.

 In this way, our confidence in decision-making is rooted in a proper understanding of God’s character rather than our own ability to choose correctly.  Regardless of our sin, poor choices, or lack of taking God’s “perfect” direction, God remains faithful to us.  We can experience freedom in decision-making because of God’s faithfulness and power.

 If you’ve made a decision that you currently regret, the hope is that God has not doomed you to a life of second-best.  Even now, He is at work to conform you to the character of Christ.  If you are in the midst of making a decision (big or small), seek the Lord and know that regardless of your decision He will accomplish His purposes in you. 

 My young friend and I ended our conversation that day by reminding one another that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7).  May He give you the grace today to resist fear and move boldly in that spirit of power, love and a sound mind.

To find out more about John Stone, visit his Christian speaker home page here

“Who’s that?” she asked her parents.

“Well, that’s Jesus!” they replied.

The little girl leaned forward and rapped baby Jesus on the head with her knuckles.

“But he’s plastic!” the little girl exclaimed.

I think we all too often ask people to follow a plastic Jesus:  a Jesus who is slick and shiny and impervious to the elements and hollow inside.  In short, a Jesus who isn’t real.  We skim over the stories and camp on the obvious and offer surface-level answers to deep and difficult questions.  And then we get frustrated when they don’t seem to “get” it.  No wonder.  What we’re asking them to “get” doesn’t deserve their time or their attention and certainly not their lives. 

But the more I strive to show people the real Jesus, the Jesus who bursts unbidden from the pages of the Gospels if only you give him half a chance, the more convinced I am that people will do anything to follow him…if only we let them see him as he is.

Probably my favorite moment in ministry for this whole year…maybe for this decade…came today.  A middle-school girl asked me a question about “really all of it, you know…the whole heaven and hell thing.  The cross and forgiveness, you know?  I mean, I don’t get it.  How can Jesus do that?  What are they talking about?”

So I explained it.   God’s plan of salvation and all that, you know?  And as I talked I could see her connecting to it for maybe the first time, not because my explanation was clearer than any she’d heard before, but because I had been working so hard to let the kids see the real Jesus and now, suddenly, she saw Jesus as a real person who did this real thing for her on a real cross and…well, I guess it was just real for the first time.

When I was done, she looked at me for a long moment and then said, “Oh…” and this big smile lit up her face.  “Oh…so that’s what it all means.  I get it!” 

It just doesn’t get any better than that.

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