Digging Deep

March 21, 2010

Charity

Filed under: Christian Living, Craig Smith — Tags: , , , , , — Craig Smith @ 2:36 AM

I’ve been travelling in Asia for the last several weeks.  As you probably know, most of Asia holds to Buddhist or Hindu (or a mix of the two) religious beliefs.  Having spent several years here when I was growing up, this is no surprise to me and has provided for some great conversations with my kids.  What is new to me, though, is an observation I made just yesterday about the social impact of those religious systems:  while walking on the island of Koh Samui, Thailand, my oldest daughter pointed out a sign for a Thai boxing match aimed at raising relief funds for victims of the Haiti earthquake.  Besides the obvious oddity of buying tickets to watch two men beat each other up in order to raise money to help people who have been beat up by a natural disaster, here’s what struck me:  this is the first sign I’ve seen anywhere in Asia for anything like this.  In America right now there are a thousand charities raising money to help the earthquake victims in Haiti, but over here…nothing.  Even this Thai boxing match was organized by American ex-pats and appeared to be being marketed to Westerners.

In other words, the only impulse towards charity I’ve seen here was from Westerners.  No great surprise, I guess.  Remember who contributed almost all the funds a few years ago to help the victims of the tsunami that hit Thailand?  Right, Westerners…and mostly Americans at that.

Now, I don’t mention this in order to say “America is the best!”  No, I mention it to ask a question:  why?  Why should America, which it seems to me is fast-becoming a thoroughly secular nation, still lead the world in charity?

The answer, I believe, is that America still feels the impact of a historic Christian world-view.  Even the most jaded of secularists in the States tend to think that people matter and that helping people is a good thing…even if they are utterly unable to give justification for those beliefs.  But here in Asia, where Buddhism and Hinduism have dominated for centuries, the moral landscape is strikingly different.  Though the people are all so nice and polite, there is little or no concern for larger issues of social justice or humanitarian effort.

My point?  I’m not entirely sure.  I’m a little jet-lagged and a lot tired…and I have to get up early to catch a plane for Hong Kong in the morning…so I’m not really feeling all that profound.  But that Thai-boxing-Haiti-relief sign really got me thinking.  In my travels around the world as a Christian speaker and teacher, I think I see the global influence of America declining.  In some of the things that we export…through Hollywood in particular…I welcome that.  But in other ways, I fear for a world where a Christian worldview (or at least the last vestiges of one) no longer has a serious spokesman.

March 8, 2010

The Reality of Waiting

Filed under: Barb Larson, Christian Living, Encouragement — Barb Larson @ 11:39 AM

As a Christian speaker I occasionally find myself waiting in airports.  Last weekend was one of those times.  I was at the gate waiting to board my plane when a young woman made her way to the seat next to me.  She was carrying two large, stylish purses… and a large clear, plastic bag with a knot tied at the top.  Inside I could see miscellaneous clothes, a pair of tennis shoes, a laptop in a colorful case and a book titled “When Life Goes Wrong.” I smiled at her curiously when she plopped down next to me.  She tentatively returned my smile and explained, “I got bumped from my flight last night because of the snow. I paid a fortune for my three bags.  Last night they weighed my heaviest bag and said that I was good to go.  But today, when I arrived, I was told that it was overweight and that I had to carry the excess in this plastic bag.  I’m tired and I’m just trying to get home.” She added that the book in her bag explained her life at that moment.

I watched her things while she got a cup of coffee and we finally got on the plane.  I thought about how much life feels, at times, like waiting to catch a flight.  We encounter obstacles and the waiting seems enormously long.  But God tells us that the waiting has purpose—that He is working in our lives to make us more suited to our final destination—heaven.  We are going home and nothing can keep us from our timely arrival.  So be faithful even when it seems that God is taking a long time.  He hasn’t forgotten or abandoned you—he’s just working it the details in his way and it is the perfect way.  Remember the encouragement of Psalm 27:13: “I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”

March 3, 2010

Demons?

Filed under: Christian Living, Craig Smith, Spiritual Warfare — Tags: , , , , , , , — Craig Smith @ 10:54 AM

Here’s a question I just received.  I’m blogging about it today because its a question I get on a pretty regular basis.

Hi Craig,  I wanted to ask a couple of questions.  I have been told that when Paul refers to the thorn in the flesh he is referring to a person or a demonic spirit.  What do you believe about this?  Also, in regards to spiritual warfare, what material (if any) would you recommend.  We went to a Bible study called Freedom Encounter by Keys of the Kingdom International.  It seems to focus on how bound up people are and that everyone needs constant intervention in the spiritual world or even deliverance.  I agree to a point but I feel like they are looking for almost “magical” ways of being set free from the sinful self, besides obedience in Christ.  Generational curses, demonic influence…. ugh.  I was involved in the occult so I KNOW who the enemy is however, I thought I was set free in Christ.  I am sure there is not short answer to this, so if you want to refer me to study material I would be thankful!

My answer:

Hi XXXXX,

I suspect Paul is referring to a physical ailment that had a demonic origin, rather than to a person or to a demonic spirit precisely.  In other words, my best guess (though really nothing more than a guess) is that he had a disease but understood that the disease had a demonic component.  It’s interesting that the New Testament sometimes attributes particular symptoms to demons and sometimes attributes those exact same symptoms to just “being sick.”  This indicates that they did not have a simplistic or superstitious understanding of illness but a nuanced and discerning one…perhaps more so than ours!

In any event, as a Christian, evil spirits have no authority over you.  On the contrary, you can command them “in the name of Jesus” (which really just means “as a representative of Jesus possessing his delegated authority”), and they have to obey you as they would Jesus.  In that sense we are free.  However, these spirits are still present in the world and will sometimes take a particular interest in individuals.  You can kick them out of a geographical area (exorcism) but they may hang out on the periphery and look for opportunities to plague a person even though they have no real “grasp” on that individual.  Think of it this way:  a Christian has become slippery with Christ’s righteousness and demons can no longer grasp us…but they can still try to poke us with sticks, so we need to be aware of the possibility that they are operating nearby and take advantage of our authority to tell them to go away. 

 I don’t think anyone really knows all the rules of this stuff:  i.e., how far do they have to go away when we cast them out of a place, how much can they poke us, etc.  What I know is this:  as a believer you have absolute authority over evil spirits.  Because of this they will be less direct in their efforts.  This, of course, assumes that there are still demons interested in you, personally, which there may not be.  Any spirits that were interested in you while you were involved in the occult may well have moved on to an easier target.  There are a limited number of these spirits (though I have no idea how many) and they are neither omniscient nor omnipotent.  They have to be in nearby in order to do their thing.  The same applies to Satan himself.  I’m always amused at how many people who say things like “Satan has really been giving me a hard time” as though he was either omni-present or was personally following them around.  I’m almost positive that Satan himself has no idea who I am! J

 We live in fallen world and much of the pain and difficulty we face is a result of that, rather than spiritual attack.  However, our sin does give evil spirits a “foothold” in our lives (Eph. 4:26-27), so it’s important that we stay holy so that we can stay free.  In other words, it’s a balance:  there are spirits who will try to hurt us, so we need to be aware of them and take up the authority we have over them.  But evil spirits are not the cause for every problem we have, either.  As C.S. Lewis said, we need to be aware of them without being in awe of them.    

Is this at all helpful?

Craig

March 1, 2010

Finding A Great Christian Speaker, Part 2

Filed under: Christian ministry, Christian speakers — admin @ 7:30 PM

 What kind of speaker do you want?

The second thing to do when trying to find a Christian speaker is to decide what you’re looking for.  Most Christian speakers fall into two broad categories:  equipping and inspiring.  Christian speakers who fit into the “inspiring” category will generally be fun and encouraging to listen to, but relatively short on biblical content.  Christian speakers who fit into the “equipping” category will generally have more in-depth teaching from the Bible.  Of course, there’s no reason why a Christian speaker can’t both equip and inspire audiences, but the unfortunate truth is that this combination of gifts is rare.  They’re out there, but they’re not common…and they’re not necessarily cheap.

 As with so many things in life, you may have to strike a balance.  When it comes to booking a Christian speaker, you will often juggle three things:  ability to engage, ability to equip and cost.  You can get someone who isn’t very engaging but is a solid teacher for relatively little money.  You can also get someone who is engaging but relatively shallow without spending much.  To get someone who is able to engage audiences and then give them life-changing teaching, you’re going to have to pay a professional-level fee (though this shouldn’t be a burden; see above).

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