Category Archives: Sin – Dehumanization

Mental Illness – Comfort With these Words

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The pastor who was my main ministry mentor and I served on his staff team for years lost his son to suicide some years ago. He writes from a place of experience and also a free-will view of creation. -Shel

(Thanks to Stacy Mongar for reposting this)

Having recently learned of Matthew Warren’s death, it seemed appropriate to post the thoughts of Pastor Ron Traub,

“Mental Illness: Comfort with the words

Having lost a son to suicide, Pastor Ronald Traub offers Godly insight and comfort to others who have also experienced the pain of losing loved ones to suicide.

By Ronald I. Traub, senior pastor of First Assembly of God

Jeremiah 8:22 (NKJV): “Is there no balm in Gilead, is there no physician there?” The prophet asked this question knowing that there was indeed a physician -even the Great Healer himself -who would apply the healing balm of His presence to our hurt¨ing souls. First Thessalonians 4 reminds us of the resurrection of the believers and concludes with this instruction: “Therefore encourage each other with these words” (v. 18, NIV). It is my desire that you, as a reader, will find comfort’in my words and story.

I grew up in a pastor’s home and at a very young age I felt a call to the ministry. I went to Bible college right out of high school and met the girl who would become my wife. After Bible College, we went into full-time ministry. Two beautiful children were born to us and joyful times were a part of our home as we had the privilege of raising them. After 35 years in the ministry, we had a great church, two wonderful children married to born-again spouses, and four beautiful grandchildren. Our son was an ordained minister with a master’s degree in counseling and was the dean of men at a Christian college. Our daughter worked in our church. Life was perfect. At times, when dealing with troubled families, I almost felt guilty.

Then … the phone rang. It was our daughter-in-law. Our son had just hung himself. In an instant, our perfect life was forever changed. Life will never be the same as it was before that phone call. Not a day has gone by in the last six years that we have not thought about Ron – many times crying out in pain to God; many times, asking thousands of questions and receiving few answers.

We have learned much over the last six years and are learning more each day. God did not do this. God had no purpose in this. This was not God’s will. He was not teaching us something or bringing discipline to us. This was not God’s plan for Ron or for us. Do not say to others when they are hurting, “God must have some purpose in this for you.” He had no purpose. He did not do this.

When depression comes on a believer, it is a lie from hell. Satan is a liar and the father of all lies, and he deceives a believer into thinking there is no hope, no peace, no way out. The believer listens to the lie and takes his eyes off the Lord who offers peach and joy and his all-sufficient grace. When suicide happens, the believer has believed the ultimate lie, that there is no hope.

So hear me again. God did not do this. He had no purpose in it. It was not meant to test us, to strengthen us, to discipline us, or to use us for God’s glory so that someone might get saved. God’s Son died for all people to get saved, my son did not have to die for people to be saved.

Having said that, let me assure you that God does desire now to get purpose for my life in this. He desire to take what hell meant as evil toward me and turn it for good in my life. If I let him use this, he will get glory for himself in my life and because of this. Certainly he could have intervened and stopped it. He could have healed and raised up my son from the coma of death. He could have sent someone to stop him or res¨cue him. Someone told us that Ron placed his life in God’s hands and He kept him.

If today you are in deep grief because of the loss of a loved one, God wants you to run to Him, experience His grace and His touch with the balm of Gilead and the hope of eternity he brings to the soul. If you do, God will grow you better and you will not grow bitter. Running to God includes finding a safe Christian community which will help you share the burdens. We are not meant to bear the burdens alone. The truth will set us free if we acknowledge the pain we are feel¨ing to those we can trust.

Suicide often comes because a person is in a deep depression. Depression is an illness. An organ of the body is sick. In this case, the organ that is sick is the brain. This is a mental illness. When depression causes suicide, the illness is fatal. This is so sad because suicide is always preventable. However, we have placed a stigma on mental illness. This is especially true in the church. We think that if we are believers we should always be joyful and at peace because we have our minds stayed on Jesus. People suffering from depression often do not feel free to ask of prayer. It is okay to ask for prayer if the organ that is sick is the heart, but not if it is the brain. If it is the brain, we must suffer silently without the benefit of support from our church. If a believer dies of depression because of suicide (never say a person committed suicide -like he committed some crime or unpardonable sin), we speak in shaming terms. We wonder if those left behind are feeling some sort of guilt or shame. We never have these thoughts if some young athlete dies playing basketball due to some detectable heart disease. We say he died because he had a bad heart. The suicide victim died because he had a sick brain. Our son was sick and his sickness took his life.

Scripture does not teach that suicide is a mortal sin ó with no forgiveness. This is not a moral failure or sin, but a faith failure. Like Peter who was walking on water until he took his eyes off Jesus and saw the wind and waves and began to sink, Ron’s faith failed. My son was walking with Jesus, but he got his eyes on his difficulties, which seemed over¨whelming. He lost sight of Jesus and His outstretched hand and he died. His sickness took from him the ability to think and choose. He did not choose to die. In that moment, his sickened brain gave him no choice but to die.

Remember that Satan has no power of life or death. This is God’s domain. Satan certainly cannot take a soul out of the hand of a loving God. God’s Word tells us that nothing can separate us from the Lord – not life, not death. One noted Christian counselor told us short¨ly after Ron’s death,” Ron’s life was not shortened.”
I sat up and asked what he meant. “Ron was only 30 years old”, I said.

He said, “Ron has eternal life and you cannot shorten eternal life.” Jesus told us that if we believed in Him, even if we die, we would live again. What a wonderful hope we have in Jesus.

Having said all of this, I want to say with certainty that suicide is never God’s plan, nor is He pleased with it. It is a falling short of the plan of God for that per¨son at the time and for his life. His faith failed. God was there desiring to rescue him, if only like Peter, as he was beginning to sink. He had cried out to Jesus, “save me!” Jesus waited to reach
out His hand and pick him up. Often, by that time, the person as already gone beyond the means of rescue. There were people Ron could have talked to. There was medicine available to control the depression. If only in society and the church we would lot make this illness so evil, as if anyone suffering from this illness somehow sinned. If I have high blood pressure, no one in the church cites me for a lack of faith. If I have depression and take drugs for it, there are all kinds of people ready to tell me that as a Christian I should not because these are controlling my mind; just trust the Holy Spirit, they say.

How do we recover when a loved one dies and his or her death seems so senseless and tragic? We must run to God who is our comfort and our Comforter. We must not hide our sorrow from our brothers and sisters in the Lord, but allow them to com¨fort us. We have made it this far because our church family, from around the world, held us in their arms. We were comforted every time someone said, “I am praying for you.” For months we literally ran to the mailbox each day to get our fix of comfort from the cards that kept coming. Those cards brought peace and healing to our hearts.

When you attempt to comfort someone who is grieving, do not try to make some sense out of the pain for them. Do not try to understand what they are feeling. Do not try to analyze. Do not tell them that God had some purpose. You don’t have to have the right words. Just let them know, you care. Sometimes just a hug is L enough. Let them know you are praying. At the same time, don’t be afraid to talk to them about their loved one. I want so much to talk about my son. I love him and was always proud of him. I love to hear how he touched lives. Sometimes people are afraid to talk about him because they think it will bring us pain. Of course it brings us pain, but to ignore him is even worse. There is a poem titled The Elephant in the Room. It speaks about an elephant in a room. No one wants to talk about it, but everyone is aware it is there.

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM
There’s an elephant in the room.
It is large and squatting, so it is hard to get around it.
Yet we squeeze by with “How are you?” and “I am fine”…
And a thousand other forms of trivial chatter.
We talk about the weather.
We talk about work.
We talk about everything else
Except the elephant in the room.
We all know it is there.
We are thinking about the elephant as we talk together.
It is constantly on our minds.
For, you see, it is a very big elephant.
It has hurt us all.
But we do not talk about the elephant in the room.
Oh, please say his name.
Oh, please say, “Ronnie” again.
Oh, please, let’s talk about the elephant in the room.
For if we talk about his death,
Perhaps we can talk about his life.
Can I say, “Ronnie,” to you and not have you look away?
For if I cannot, then you are leaving me alone.. .in a room…With an elephant.
-Terry Kettering

I am on a crusade to help people with depression or any mental illness to understand that their illness is not a shameful thing, not a sin. There is hope. There is help. People struggling with depression need to be able to say, “I am sick and I need prayer and I need help”. If you are suffering and you need a doctor, get one. If you need medicine, take some. There is no condemnation to all who are in Christ Jesus.

If your loved one died of this illness by suicide, you need not feel shame or guilt. If she was a believer, she is with Christ. Please feel free to talk to us about your loved one. Please let Christ heal your wounded soul and restore your joy and peace.

Our family is growing in the grace of God. Our daughter-in-law has married a wonderful man who loves her and our two granddaughters. They are in the ministry reaching a lost world with the hope of Jesus. Our daughter and her family serve the Lord. My wife and I are receiving the grace of God each day and we long to see our son when we see Jesus on that eternal day.

Daily I am aware that the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. The Lord did not refuse Ron, but received him when Ron placed his life in God’s hands. He took him. We rejoice in the name of the Lord.

There is a balm for the wound¨ed, sorrowful soul and there is a resurrection that brings hope. Be comforted with this hope.”

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Some Advice for Anybody Having an Extra-Marital Affair

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Some Advice for Anybody Having an Extra-Marital Affair

 It happens and it really stinks. You’ve been married for years and suddenly you find yourself attracted to somebody else. Maybe he or she works in your office; maybe you even met them at church.

A long conversation turned into a test-flirt that got rewarded and then the touch of a hand and pretty soon you’re talking about how to navigate some pretty serious deception. Maybe you never thought it would go this far or you planned on stopping it before it reached this point but … you didn’t and now you’re cheating on your spouse.

Feelings begin to take hold based on a host of reasons, and some of them are purely biological. Some feelings are as light as the common cold, some as serious as a fatal disease. The problem is, the longer you follow the feeling the more the brain becomes awash with an “insane” logic that seems to make sense. Many feel like their brain has been awakened and their spirit revived, yet while bearing the tsunamis of guilt and shame.

Developing attraction or romantic feelings for someone other than your spouse happens in almost every relationship. Hopefully it’s rare, but it’s normal. Pursuing those feelings, however is harmful and incredibly destructive to people you care about. The irony is that while trying to bring love to that new person, you actually bring them harm. The pursuit involves hiding, manipulation, and lying; the very things you will later despise in yourself and distrust in the other.

If you have children, you’re not present because you’re spending every possible moment with the affair partner or obsessing about the next time you can. And then there is the 5 to 6 years of living hell you go through after you’re found out, even if you don’t get divorced.You may not have gotten into it on purpose but that is how you get out of it; on purpose.

When we begin to develop feelings for somebody else, it’s a great indicator some serious attention needs to be paid to our marriage. If you’ve not acted on anything, shut the inappropriate relationship down and be intentional about finding the spark in your marriage again. If this sounds extreme, imagine your spouse’s response if they knew what was going on.

If you’re already having an affair, you probably feel terrible but are having trouble stopping and have no idea what to do. We know this is extremely painful and want you to know some things you can do:

1.

       First of all come to terms with the fact this is going to be difficult and it’s going to hurt, but there will be life again.

2. Open up with God and own everything that you’ve done. When I confess without excuses I begin to feel God’s mercy.

3. To walk away from an affair you need to know something you are walking toward; something that is more important to you than that which you are afraid of losing in yourself when you leave. For instance if you felt you could only be your “real self” with your affair partner, walk through the fear of doing that with your spouse now. Yes, it may shake things up but not any worse than having an affair.

4. Talk to a counselor, a trusted pastor, or a real friend and ask for help now. This will make an immense difference and you will feel relief. A trustworthy person can help you do what you probably won’t do alone.

5. My guess is you have stopped being honest with your spouse about what’s not working in your relationship and you fear the conflict, or the silence, if you are. Consequently, you have taken your real self and real needs out of the marriage and that’s a problem. This is where a counselor can create the safety to help you be honest and to hear each other.

6. If you don’t learn how you are contributing to the problem, you will repeat it. Each of us brings our own wounds to the marriage that impact it much more than we can imagine. Invite your spouse to tell you how you contribute to their hurt and loneliness and then listen. It is amazing how people can drop their walls when they feel heard.

7. Stop deceiving yourself and others. When we are in the middle of a deception, we have usually told so many lies that we don’t know how to get back to the truth. The beginning of honesty with others is to first be honest with ourselves.

8. Let the pain that you feel in the absence of the affair partner call you to take a step into the mystery of God’s very real and inexhaustible love. This is not just religious babble. A short book by Henri Nouwen called The Inner Voice of Love is very helpful with this.

9. Tell your spouse the truth. I know this brings you panic because you have no idea how it will turn out. A counselor or experienced pastor is invaluable to help with this.

10. Stay humble and repent through the backlash. Defending yourself or blaming only fuels more anger and increases the chance that you’ll actually believe your defense.

 

• • •

The only thing that can make this situation worse is to heap on more deception. The truth just needs to come out and be dealt with. This is going to cost you and those you love a great deal, but dealing with it now and being honest will be the first step in reestablishing broken trust. Getting caught is going to make it much, much worse. If you walk through this honestly and humbly, you will uncover the meaning of integrity and will find you like yourself better, as will others. 

- Bill Lokey & Don Miller

Some Advice for Anybody Having an Extra-Marital Affair is a post from: Storyline Blog

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From Stand Firm: The Holocaust Just Got More Shocking

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 http://www.standfirminfaith.com/?/sf/page/30165

The Holocaust Just Got More Shocking

THIRTEEN years ago, researchers at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum began the grim task of documenting all the ghettos, slave labor sites, concentration camps and killing factories that the Nazis set up throughout Europe.

The researchers have cataloged some 42,500 Nazi ghettos and camps throughout Europe, spanning German-controlled areas from France to Russia and Germany itself, during Hitler’s reign of brutality from 1933 to 1945.

The figure is so staggering that even fellow Holocaust scholars had to make sure they had heard it correctly when the lead researchers previewed their findings at an academic forum in late January at the German Historical Institute in Washington.

“The numbers are so much higher than what we originally thought,” Hartmut Berghoff, director of the institute, said in an interview after learning of the new data.

“We knew before how horrible life in the camps and ghettos was,” he said, “but the numbers are unbelievable.”

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What Tempts Us…

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Barna’s New Research Explores the Changing Shape of Temptation  from Your Journey Blog by Gary Rohrmayer

January 4, 2013 – It’s that time again—the end of one year and the beginning of another—when people resolve to make some changes in their lives. New Year’s resolutions are certainly nothing new—in fact, for many people, they are the same year after year. Making and breaking resolutions is something of a tradition. A new study from the Barna Group examines the temptations Americans say they most commonly struggle with—and how they resolve to deal with these moral and ethical lures.

The research reveals some new—and not so new—aspects to the temptations facing today’s adults. The research was conducted in conjunction with a book project from Todd Hunter called Our Favorite Sins.

Bu-010113-infographic-1d

 

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Mental Health Care is the Real Issue – Gun Control is a Partisan Distraction

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My thoughts on the “Gun Control for citizens only” meme run thus:

I believe in gun control and that centralization of more power in larger entities is also a recipe of bigger evil. I am a little irritated by those who think gun control for citizens alone would have stopped this. I am all for gun control – as long as you include all governmental entities – because those with access to guns in governments consistently and statistically do a whole lot more killing of innocents with impunity. Not to mention instead of claiming mass mental instability (which it IS -the problem of Satanic influence in the concentration and control of power) they call it “legal”.

Put in one sentence – Gun Control that does not include centralized powers (gangs, business and governments) is a setup for potential genocide.  

The Founders understood that concentrated power is the source of concentrated oppression and violence – that is part of point of the 2nd amendment. Start with eliminating the violent drone attacks, disarm the gangs, disarm the military, then the police, then the citizens – that is the order for a good gun control policy. (I think I hear a drone over my house).FYI I think only one person will able to decentralize weaponized power, end all violence and evil – His name is Jesus. Again I believe in gun control – START with the governments.The AP ran a little “Fact check” on all the Gun Control hype.  I conclude they are largely scare-tactics and remind us the most consistent source of mass-killings is by governments not unattached persons.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/associated-press-story-believe-it-or-not-mass-killings-are-not-on-the-rise-they-are-on-the-decline/

 

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Feminism Introduction for Dummies

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If you want a great introduction to foundational feminism this talk by Joan Chittister will knock your socks off.  You might find out you agree with a majority of what she is saying.

Joan Chittister  spoke in Minneapolis November 1, 7:00 PM

The New Violence and Its Unexpected Victims

Joan Chittister is a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, PA, and founder of Benetvision, a resource and research center for contemporary spirituality. She is the author of more than 40 books on church and society, peacemaking and social justice, and spirituality and the religious life, including The Gift of Yearsand The Radical Christian Life. She is co-chair of the Global Peace Initiative of Women, a partner organization of the U.N., which facilitates a worldwide network of women peace builders. She holds an M.A. from the University of Notre Dame and a Ph.D. in speech communication theory from Penn State University.  
Co-sponsored by WomenSpirit.

Sister Joan Chittister

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Remember – But Don’t Be Paralyzed!

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If you “remember” without asking what positive change did you make – you’re giving the past too much power. How have you grown and learned from the evil of 9/11? Did you become like that which you hated or did you become something different? Or are you back in a 9/10 mindset?

I wonder if all we’ve done is doubled down on being a security-nanny state (*if* that is true terror won – I hope it is LESS true today – what would the founders think?), driven by fear into less freedom. Embrace life and love and growth – that is the best “remembrance” otherwise the limited, blinkered view of fear takes over. Break cycles of violence – pray for spiritual renewal and truth to break forth – starting in your mind. The past shapes us but we must not let it blind us to new ways of living and acting.

What do you think? Or more importantly what did you do to challenge your past way of thinking?

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Love America – But Don’t Worship It – Speak the Truth of Jesus to It

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Shel Boese / Shelby Boese – I have spoken often saying: “I love America (The U.S.) – but I love Jesus more” at Mercy Church.  I am always concerned with the Civil Religion version of Jesus in America.  This article helps make that point clearer.  I fear the Ds and Rs often worship their parties and their own version of Americanism.

 

Is Americanism the Fourth Biblical World Religion? (Partial Review of Peter Leithart’s Between Babel and the Beast)

August 30, 2012 By 

Is Americanism the Fourth Biblical World Religion? (Partial Review of Peter Leithart’s Between Babel and the Beast)

Some time ago I posted two reviews of Peter Leithart’s Defending Constantine. At the end of the second one I suggested that he publish a sequel explaining his view of empire and especially Christianity and empire.

Well, perhaps that book has been published. This year (2012) Cascade Books (imprint of Wipf & Stock) has published Leithart’s contribution to its Theopolitical Visions series. Its title is Between Babel and the Beast: America and Empires in Biblical Perspective.

I’m not sure yet (I’ve read all but the last part of the book) whether this book answers the questions I raised about Leithart’s vision of Christianity and empire in relation to Defending Constantine, but right now that’s not my interest.

I cannot recommend highly enough especially Part II of Between Babel and the Beast (henceforth BBB): “Americanism.” It’s an incisive critique of what David Gelernter has identified as the “fourth biblical world religion.” Leithart agrees with Gelernter and goes so far as to label America “a heretic nation.” (71)

Before saying more about BBB (and here I’m going to restrict myself to Part II), let me give a little background. A few months ago a local newspaper published a column by business guru and writer Mark Stevens. Here’s its original publication (on line edition):http://www.msco.com/blog/i-spell-god-with-stars-and-stripes/. (I’m typing this in Word and it’s hyperlinked; if that doesn’t show up when I copy and paste this into my blog, please hyperlink it yourself or cut and paste it into the address box of a web browser.)

Stevens’ theme was that his religion is America. If you peruse the web using key words like “Americanism” you’ll see that he’s not alone.

But Leithart’s message is not about people who explicitly affirm that their religion is America; it’s about how America has come to regard itself as “God’s New Israel.” But it’s even worse than just that. Here is one quote that will give you a sense of what Leithart is saying about America and Americanism: “America became an agent not of God’s kingdom but an instrument for the spread of American institutions and American culture, and there was a tendency to see America ‘basking in [God’s] permanent favor.’ … Throughout American history, orthodoxy has been strong enough to check the danger of deifying America itself—check, but not eliminate. But the intellectual structure is in place for Americanists to think those who worship America are offering service to God.” (72)

In a relatively short space and with comparatively few words, Leithart goes through American history, quoting American leaders and retelling the stories of America’s treatment of people considered a threat to its prosperity, with the result that one cannot deny the reality, throughout its history, of American exceptionalism. Leithart affirms that America is exceptional, but it has inflated its self-image and pride to monstrous proportions so that today, as at some times in the past, “American exceptionalism” means whatever America does is automatically right.

Now, lest anyone think Leithart (or I) is anti-American; he’s not and he makes that clear. He is decidedly for America and the best think a person can do for someone or something he/she is for is point out their flaws. (Remember the line of the patriotic song America the Beautiful that says “God mend thy every flaw?”) Leithart talks also about the great and wonderful American ideals and services to humanity. But those do not justify ignoring the heresy of Americanism.

Leithart says “We [America] are not the new Israel, nor the last best hope of mankind, nor the novus ordo saeclorum. Insofar as Americans have believed and acted on those convictions, we have been quite literally a heretic nation.” (82)

Sometimes Leithart’s rhetoric can be off putting even when his intention is exhilarating. Here’s a typical example: “Americanism is the monstrous Nephilim that people the earth when the sons of God intermarry the daughters of men. Americanist Christians are Joktanites who uncritically join Nimrod in building Babel. Americanism is ideology with the mythical power to bewitch a Babel into thinking it is Persia, a distorting mirror that might fool a predator into believing he sees the reflection of a cherub.” (82-83) Huh?

Now, I’m sure you have questions about Leithart’s message. I can do no better than strongly recommend that you get the book and read it—especially Part II. It’s prophetic, convicting, challenging, worth considering even if you don’t agree with everything the author says.

One thing I want to clarify for Leithart, lest anyone misunderstand, is that his main target of criticism is not America per se but American Christians, American churches, that have not only allowed this situation to develop but have actually contributed to it. He gives many examples. He doesn’t mention this, but one cannot help but think of the absolutely over-the-top church services of worship of America that take place all across the country on the Sunday before July 4.

I think I have met many Christians over the years whose real religion is America, not Jesus Christ. And that is the case not because they replace Jesus with America but because they insert America into Jesus. That is, they confuse the two so that Jesus becomes for them the American Lord—not Lord over America, but Lord who especially favors and sanctions America in everything it is and does.

Whenever the cross and the flag are merged, the heresy of Americanism is symbolized.

Some time ago I went to the web site of a major evangelical drug treatment program. The first thing I saw at their welcome page was just that—the cross and the American flag merged. That’s a symbol of the heresy Leithart is condemning.

So far Leithart hasn’t really talked about the solution, but the first step is obvious—Christians and churches must step away from American exceptionalism and even speak out against it insofar as it implies that America is always right and stands above basic principles of ethics such as just war and humane treatment of captives.

Next I will talk about Leithart’s own view of Christian empire, insofar as I am able to discern what that may be.

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Having the Devil of a Time….

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Shel – At Mercy Church we just finished a 3-part sermon on Sharing Jesus – Entering the Warzone.  Just came across this article from renowned Biblical scholar Ben Witherington III.

Having the Devil of a Time….

June 4, 2012 By Ben Witherington

It’s an old tension or conundrum, but still one worth pondering. On the one hand, it’s a mistake for the Christian to give Satan too much credit for what is going on. Some Christians find demons under every rock in the NT, and even talk about a demon giving them a cold etc. Of this sort of demonizing of everything that goes wrong in life, the NT shows no hint.

Indeed, it is worth noticing that Paul never even uses the word demon, save once (‘you cannot share in the table of demons and also the table of the Lord’). If Christ is the Lord of your life, Christian do not need to fear being possessed by demons. Pestered perhaps, bother or bewildered from the outside or even persecuted, pressured, and harmed perhaps, but not possessed, not spiritually endangered.

If you read Rev. 2-3 carefully you will notice that the powers of darkness are said to be able to harm believers physically, but not spiritually. They are protected spiritually. Greater is he who is within you than the forces that are in this world. Notice in Job 1-2 Satan is able to harm the body, but not the spirit of Job. That’s on the one hand.

On the other hand, we have plenty of evidence that Satan still wreaks havoc in the world. Jesus for instance talks about Satan. In Mark 4.15 it is Satan who comes and takes away the Word from the lives of those who’s hearts are like a well-trod path. In Lk. 22.31 Satan is said to be allowed to sift the disciples but Jesus has prayed for Peter so that his faith does not fail altogether, and when he repents and turns back to Jesus he is supposed to strength his fellow disciples.

In Ephes. 6.10-18 Paul is quite frank that we are in a struggle with the Evil One, who has fiery arrows and we must struggle to stand against the onslaught of the evil one in this evil age. In John 8.44 Satan is seen not merely as a tempter but as a liar and a deceiver, and the father of lies. Acts 26.18 says that pagans are under the power of Satan and need to be rescued, and indeed Lk. 10.18 makes clear that exorcisms were one form that rescue took in Jesus’ ministry. He was able to bind the Strong Man, and set his captives free. But the battle is definitely not over. Revelation records a threefold fall of Satan— from heaven to earth, from earth to the Pit, and from the Pit to the lake of fire. According to that book, Satan is alive and well on planet earth these days, and according to 2 Cor. 11.44 he has many disguises, even appearing as an angel of light. 2 Cor. 12.7 says that even Paul was harmed by a stake in the flesh courtesy of Satan. In 1 Thess. 2.18 Paul freely admits that while he wanted to come visit his converts, Satan prevented him from doing so.

Satan is no de-clawed cat or paper tiger in the NT. Indeed, 1 Peter 5.8 says he is a roving, roaring lion looking for someone to devour. He is regularly credited in the NT with schemes, plans, temptations, and harm. Rev. 2.9-10 even says Satan can throw a believer in jail, even leading to his death, but his soul is protected from harm. 1 John 5.18-19 says the whole world is under Satan’s power and control.

On the other hand, 1 John 2.13-14 says Satan can be overcome by believers, and that he flees when he is resisted if one turns to God. ( James 4.7).

C.S. Lewis once said it is perhaps the greatest trick or smoke screen or deception of Satan to convince people that they are too wise to believe in him. But at the same time, it is a mistake to give him too much credit as well. There is a balance between the extremes reflected in the NT, and this is in part because all of the writers of the NT believe they live in ‘this present evil age’ which, now that the Kingdom is breaking in, is passing away. Satan, after the death and resurrection of Jesus is fighting a rear guard action, for he has already lost the battle of D Day, and V-E Day is coming when Christ returns.

The believer then lives betwixt and between, overcoming evil with good, but not surprised or caught napping when temptation happens, wickedness has it’s day, believers suffer, and all is often not right with the world. The good news is— Christ has overcome the world, through faithful life and death and resurrection, and that is our recipe for overcoming as well.

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Fake Love, Fake War: Why So Many Men Are Addicted to Internet Porn and Video Games

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Fake Love, Fake War: Why So Many Men Are Addicted to Internet Porn and Video Games  from Desiring God Blog by Russell Moore

OriginalYou know the guy I’m talking about. He spends hours into the night playing video games and surfing for pornography. He fears he’s a loser. And he has no idea just how much of a loser he is. For some time now, studies have shown us that porn and gaming can become compulsive and addicting. What we too often don’t recognize, though, is why.

In a new book, The Demise of Guys: Why Boys Are Struggling and What We Can Do About It, psychologists Philip Zimbardo and Nikita Duncan say we may lose an entire generation of men to pornography and video gaming addictions. Their concern isn’t about morality, but instead about the nature of these addictions in reshaping the patten of desires necessary for community.

If you’re addicted to sugar or tequila or heroin you want more and more of that substance. But porn and video games both are built on novelty, on the quest for newer and different experiences. That’s why you rarely find a man addicted to a single pornographic image. He’s entrapped in an ever-expanding kaleidoscope.

There’s a key difference between porn and gaming. Pornography can’t be consumed in moderation because it is, by definition, immoral. A video game can be a harmless diversion along the lines of a low-stakes athletic competition. But the compulsive form of gaming shares a key element with porn: both are meant to simulate something, something for which men long.

Pornography promises orgasm without intimacy. Video warfare promises adrenaline without danger. The arousal that makes these so attractive is ultimately spiritual to the core.

Satan isn’t a creator but a plagiarist. His power is parasitic, latching on to good impulses and directing them toward his own purpose. God intends a man to feel the wildness of sexuality in the self-giving union with his wife. And a man is meant to, when necessary, fight for his family, his people, for the weak and vulnerable who are being oppressed.

The drive to the ecstasy of just love and to the valor of just war are gospel matters. The sexual union pictures the cosmic mystery of the union of Christ and his church. The call to fight is grounded in a God who protects his people, a Shepherd Christ who grabs his sheep from the jaws of the wolves.

When these drives are directed toward the illusion of ever-expanding novelty, they kill joy. The search for a mate is good, but blessedness isn’t in the parade of novelty before Adam. It is in finding the one who is fitted for him, and living with her in the mission of cultivating the next generation. When necessary, it is right to fight. But God’s warfare isn’t forever novel. It ends in a supper, and in a perpetual peace.

Moreover, these addictions foster the seemingly opposite vices of passivity and hyper-aggression. The porn addict becomes a lecherous loser, with one-flesh union supplanted by masturbatory isolation. The video game addict becomes a pugilistic coward, with other-protecting courage supplanted by aggression with no chance of losing one’s life. In both cases, one seeks the sensation of being a real lover or a real fighter, but venting one’s reproductive or adrenal glands over pixilated images, not flesh and blood for which one is responsible.

Zimbardo and Duncan are right, this is a generation mired in fake love and fake war, and that is dangerous. A man who learns to be a lover through porn will simultaneously love everyone and no one. A man obsessed with violent gaming can learn to fight everyone and no one.

The answer to both addictions is to fight arousal with arousal. Set forth the gospel vision of a Christ who loves his bride and who fights to save her. And then let’s train our young men to follow Christ by learning to love a real woman, sometimes by fighting his own desires and the spirit beings who would eat him up. Let’s teach our men to make love, and to make war . . . for real.

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