Once the world heard Ted William’s story, and his voice, job offers starting flooding in from all over the nation, and everyone wanted to talk to the man. One of the first major media outlets to get William’s to elaborate on his story was NBC’s The Today Show. You can watch all of their interaction with him here.

Throughout the video clips and live interviews aired, William’s made lots of references to God and even to “Jesus”- which is very frowned upon by the media. And at one point during The Today Show interview, Matt Lauer asked William’s what made him be able to sober and clean-up after so many years. This is the response that followed:

…this time around, Matt, I have God, a “god of my understanding” in my life. I’m acknowledging him on a daily basis, which I’ve been doing this past year, because I was ready to mark 2010 as another year wasted, until I realized that in 2010 , I found a new sense of spirituality. Now, I’m not saying I have become, you know, a “born again-type person” to where i’m going around ( ? ), but I do want to say that the difference between my successes of years gone by, ( and now, is ) I didn’t acknowledge the Lord or thank him for anything before, you know?

Now all the talk about God on a surface level seems great, and it is awesome the progress that Mr. Williams is making. It truly is a great story of redemption; of rags to potential riches; of not judging a book by it’s cover. I am proud of him and hope the very best for him, his future, and his career.

But it really bugs me that Mr. Williams clarified that he’s not “born again”, and that he’s found “spirituality”. And what bugs me most of all is that Williams claims that the thing that helped him more than any other is a “god of his understanding.” That is NA and AA jargon at its best! Steps #3 and #4 of the “12 Steps to Recovery (or Serenity)” that AA, NA, and various recovery programs base themselves on state that “I…”:

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

The problem I have with this is that “God, as I understand him” sucks!! The “God of my understanding” sucks!! The God of Ted Williams’ understanding sucks!!

I don’t want a “God of my understanding”! I want a God beyond my understanding! I want a God who is far better than I could ever understand or completely explain! I want a God, who is not dependent upon my understanding, thus making Him different than everyone else’s God of their understanding…. I want a God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever! I want a God who is immutable regardless of what others think of Him or perceive Him to be!

A “God of my understanding” is classic post-modernism, humanism, and New Age spirituality rolled into one: That whatever is true for you; is true for you. But what is true to you is not necessarily true for me. And what is true for me does not have to be true for you….To each his own! All roads lead to the same destination! All paths lead to heaven! All religions lead to the same god or gods. Etc, etc, etc…

The God. the God of the Bible. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The God who has existed eternally and coequally as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit as One is the only God and He does not depend on other’s understanding of Him and does not need our admiration in order to exist! He is eternally self existent.

All other gods are false.  And as the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:18-22, that all false gods, or idols, are demons. So when we submit our lives to a “god of our understanding” versus the God of Scripture, we are in danger of actually handing over  our lives to the power of demons! And the Bible is clear that Satan and His forces are more than capable of parading around as “angels of light.” So though we may be experiencing a supernatural power in our lives and progressing in outside holiness and sobriety, inside we may be no different at all, and actually may be much worse off, for the enemy may actually have more power over our lives than he did before. And the real God, the God outside of our complete understanding, will become harder to recognize due to the spiritual blindness Satan is placing in our hearts through his control and manipulation. He will implant thoughts such as, “Why serve a God outside of your understanding that wants control of your life, when you can have a god of your own understanding that you get to lead around to meet your every whim and desire?” into your mind.

My purpose is not to judge Mr. Williams. The Bible says that every good and perfect gift is ultimately from above. It is clear that Mr. Williams has some Christian influence in his life due to his quotation of Scripture and his references to Jesus. My desire, is that he will come to recognize these newfound blessings and his second chance at life, as coming from the Lord Jesus Christ. And that he will recognize that Jesus-only is the Way, the Truth, and the Life; and that no man comes to the Father but through Him. It is my prayer that Mr. Williams, as he matures and recognizes the gifts he has been given, would not be ashamed of the Gospel; would not be ashamed of being “born again”, but that he, instead, would be a mighty testimony of what a God beyond our understanding can accomplish, give all the glory to Him, and spread His good news to all he comes into contact with through the power of his incredible testimony.

Ted Williams, and everyone else out there with a “god of your understanding”, who has not been “born again”: “If you are ashamed of Jesus before men, Jesus will be ashamed of you before the Father.” “Confess with your mouth “Jesus is Lord”, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, and you will be saved!”

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

What I found odd is that both pastors stated within their sermons that it was not neccesary to beleive that the story of Jonah had actually happened. They stated that what matters is ‘what the story means for us’. They asked their audiences to suspend their disbelief in the story and just listen to it as if it were a moral tale.

I understand why they did that. There are many unbelievers who will not listen to what the Bible has to say because they don’t believe it is true. The pastors must have thought that if the unbeliever was given permission to disbelieve the validity of the Bible, they might actually pick up on the morality of the story and apply it to their lives. There’s a problem with that though.

Churches, pastors, Christians, and particular Jesus share a common mission: saving the lost from eternal tormentious seperation from God. Trying to get an unbeliever to simply understand the moral of a story will never save them to a restored relationship with God. If that’s all it took to ‘be saved’, being moral, then there was no purpose in the sacrificial death of Jesus and there is certainly no purpose for the Church and its people- not to mention the fact that there would be no hope for any of us because in case you haven’t noticed we, as people, don’t even posses the abillity to be moral on our own.

The Bible is abundantly clear that the only way to salvation was through the perfect life that we could never live, lived by Jesus; the sacrificial death that we deserved to die, taken on by Jesus; and the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, all of which defeated Satan, sin, hell, and death. That finished work of Christ is given to us totally as a gift of grace and can be recieved only through faith, not by simply applying morality myths to our lives.

In order to have faith, or trust, in Christ’s finished work and recieve salvation we are required to believe that He actually is who the Word of God states He is, and that He actually accomplished the work the Bible said He did. The Bible states to be saved that we must confess with our mouths Jesus is Lord and BELIEVE in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead. We can’t simply beleive in the idea of something like this happening, apply that belief into our lives whether it happened or not, and then be saved. We are actually required to beleive that this actually happened.

So what does this have to do with Jonah? Two things:

The first: If we can doubt the credibility of certain stories in the Bible that seem a little too far fetched for us, we should then doubt the validity of all of its stories and writings. If one part of the Bible which has claimed to be, and has been seen as, historically true for thousands of years is actually not true; then why beleive any of it at all??! The Bible is totally congruent in itself and all parts of it are built on the foundations of preceding and proceding passages that illuminate the whole of Scripture. If one passage’s validity fails, then every other one’s does as well.

The second: Jesus beleived in the story of Jonah. He even used the story to give people a sign that He was the Messiah. He stated, “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Jesus said this to speak of His upcoming resurrection which He acurately prophesies here Himself- try to accomplish that self-fulfilling prophecy!

The entire faith/religion of Christianity is built on the credibillity of Jesus and in Him being God the Son- thus being omnicient. If Jesus spoke of something as truth, something that He applied to His very validity of being the long awaited Messiah, and it was not true, then shouldn’t we throw out all of the teachings of Jesus and His very abillity to save us? For if he lied, He was not the perfect sacrifice for our sin. And if He had not known of the validity of the story of Jonah, then He was not God and had no power to save and forgive sins in the first place.

So as Christians, especially as pastors, we must not apologize for the miraculous nature of the stories in which our faith is rooted in. For if we allow people to pick and choose what they feel is valid within the Bible, we might as well throw the whole thing out. Because if a claim of the Bible proves to be false, then why believe any of it. For this, afterall, is about belief, not morality.

I talked to someone who just came out of a cult. I talked with someone who was a witch and practiced Satanism. I talked with someone who didn’t believe in the claims of the Bible yet called himself a Christian. I talked with an elderly artist who has lived an extremely interesting life with prominent figures of Hollywood’s Golden era. I talked to a severely disabled woman bound to the confines of a wheelchair for the rest of her life. And I spoke to a dear friend who is at the threshold of completely loosing the little eyesight she has left. I talked to a few others two, but these are the interactions that stuck out.

One think that’s really going through my mind right now is the young man who doesn’t necessarily believe the claims of the Bible, yet says he’s Christian out of fear.

There was so much about this conversation that I would love to elaborate on but simply don’t have the time. He essentially, though, didn’t want to go to hell -which he thought was only a temporary judgement before all people go to heaven (?)- so he “was Christian” to avoid it.

I explained to him that the Bible says that,” perfect love casts out all fear”- that the purpose of being saved (or being a Christian) was not getting out of hell, but to experience an abundant everlasting relationship with God through Jesus Christ. I let him know that God’s purpose was perfect and abiding in His purpose will lead to a gratifying and fulfilling life for us; better than any life we could live for our own purposes. I told him that I have a relationship with God because God deserves my love, praise, and devotion for what He has done for me and simply for who He is.

I told him that hell was a real eternal place for sinners who do not receive the gift of eternal life through Christ, but that it was certainly not THE reason to become a Christian.

I heard Rick Warren say on his ministry podcast that heaven and hell were no longer the great motivators of evangelism. My wife and I were talking about that several days before I heard Warren on the podcast say the same thing. Another evangelism point of previous generations was creation, where today’s generation doesn’t seem to allow the creation/evolution debate to effect their decision on whether or not one receives Christ.

It was interesting, however, to talk with this young man whose objections to faith had to do with creation and science; and whose desire for faith had to do with hell.

But I shouldn’t be surprised. This guy grew up in a Christian home and attended church all of his life. And one of the prominent messages that the church gives still is that you become a Christian to get into heaven and to avoid going to hell.

I wonder if people who have so called “conversions” based off of these motivators are truly saved. They, after all, are not compelled to become Christians based off of their desire for relationship with or honoring of God. It’s simply to avoid hell. This motivator is self-serving and not Christ-Centered.

God could and can certainly use such motivators to lead to real transformational relationships with Him; but to have such decisions based solely off of the desire to escape hell are questionable at least.

This post is far from containing any full thought about this subject, but like usual, it poses a question: What can we as Christians  do to share the grace, love, and hope we have in Christ with others so that they may experience transformational eternal relationship with Him, without the motivation being self-serving?

And more importantly: Is my relationship with Christ merely self-serving? Is yours?

The Bible says absolutely nothing about/ gives no indication that the supernatural manifestations of God would stop after the completion of the Bible. In fact the Bible is very clear that God is sovereign and can do what He wants, how He wants, when He wants, with whomever He wants. It also says that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever- not that He would one day decide not to use supernatural gifts.

Before I continue though, I want to make it clear that I can agree to disagree with Christian brothers and sisters on issues of Spiritual Gifts, Speaking in Tongues, Miracles, Healings etc….That the presence of said gifts is not essential, a marker of spiritual maturity, or an indication of a closer walk with God.

The verse that most people who don’t believe in the fullness of the Scriptural Spiritual gifts today usually use to discredit them is 1 Corinthians 18:8-10.

That verse says’” when perfection comes” that prophecies will cease and that the spiritual gift of tongues will cease. It then says that knowledge will pass away, but goes on to say that we know in part and prophesy in part and when the perfection comes that we will have those things wholly. For Spiritual Gift detractors, this “perfection” is usually referred to as the whole Bible- with the New Testament. But usually in Scripture perfection is referred to as the state that God intended the world to be and intends to restore it to. The New Testament is perfect, but if you use that argument that means that we know longer have need for knowledge because we know everything- which we clearly don’t.

So are those gifts in action today? The Bible says nothing to the contrary.

As for ‘miracles’; the word means an effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause.

The ability of God to save a totally depraved sinner and to impute to him Christ’s righteousness, indwell him with Holy Spirit, and give him a regenerated heart- that’s the greatest miracle of all! And it’s one that’s happening today. The ability to sustain the creation of the universe and keep everything in perfect balance for the substation of human life on planet earth- that’s a miracle! As for other miracles? If God can do those awesome things; he can do anything!

I believe with all my heart that God still heals people today .The Bible says that every good and perfect gift is from above. If I am sick; and then I get better- God made me better. He healed me. Whether a doctor helped, medicine helped, time helped, or rest helped- God was the one who healed me.

James 5:14-15 is clear that we are to pray for healing when it says,” Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up.” And Jesus constantly taught that we could come before God, asking Him anything and He would answer those prayers.

Tongues? Oh man! This is probably the most contested issue in Scripture and I don’t claim to have it all figured out.

It appears that there are two kinds of tongues mentioned in Scripture: tongues of men and tongues of angels.

I believe that ‘tongues of men’ are when someone speaks a human language unknown to them in a location where someone else understands that language and is used for the purpose of bringing that person to faith in Christ (Acts 2).

I believe that ‘tongues of angels’ are when someone prays and possibly speaks in a language unknown to man for the sake of interpretation. (Romans 8:1; 1 Corinthians 14).

Do those things happen today? There is no Scripture that says that can’t or don’t.

Paul himself said he wished that all people spoke in tongues and to forbid not speaking in tongues. There is no reason to apply this Scripture to only a specific time period, but not the rest of Scripture as well.

If tongues are practiced, the Bible lays strict guidelines on how they are to be used in a church gathering (1 Corinthians 14).

All that being said; I want to clarify that I do not consider myself to be Pentecostal. My Pentecostal brothers and sisters typically believe that Speaking in Tongues is the initial evidence of being baptized in (or filled with) the Holy Spirit.  

I believe that the first incident of Believers speaking in tongues on the Day of Pentecost was a descriptive portion of Scripture, not prescriptive: Meaning that you can be baptized in (or filled with) the Holy Spirit without speaking in tongues. It doesn’t mean that you won’t or can’t speak in tongues when you are baptized in (or filled with) the Holy Spirit; simply that it is not the indicator of said activities of the Holy Spirit.

I believe that one is baptized in the Spirit upon salvation, and that the Holy Spirit dwells within you from that moment forth. I do, however, believe that there are times when the Holy Spirit fills you up beyond what is normal to you; sometimes until you are overflowing. This will always be done by the will of God and for His glory only. The gifts that manifest themselves during these times exist to bring God glory, to point people to Jesus, and to strengthen and encourage the Believer. They are not for the physical or emotional pleasure of the Believer.

I believe that these two things (being baptized in the Spirit, and being filled with the Holy Spirit) are two separate events, but can take place simultaneously.

Sadly, many Christians grossly misuse the Spiritual Gifts for their own pleasure and glory, and turn them into a circus. I am sure that grieves the Holy Spirit.

So, in conclusion, I do believe that all of the Spiritual Gifts mentioned in the Bible are available to the Church today for God’s glory, but are to be used only under the strict regulations set by Scripture and the supernatural leading of the Holy Spirit. Specific Spiritual Gifts do not indicate whether or not someone is saved, whether or not someone has been baptized in the Spirit, whether or not someone has been filled with the Spirit, whether or not someone is spiritually mature, or whether or not someone is closer to God than others. 

Predestination:

I want to write a substantial article on this in the future, but for now I just want to touch on a few things that I have been thinking about. I am in know way an expert on this topic. I also find it to be trivial in the grand scheme of God’s great salvation for mankind; and acknowledge that God’s ways are mysterious to us and we cannot even fathom what He has and will continue to do for us.

The Bible is clear that it’s not us who find God, but rather, it’s Him who finds us.

And just as God called Abram out of a life of Godlessness to be His friend, God also calls us to relationship with Him by His good Grace.

The Bible says that many are called, but few are ‘chosen’. But it also says that it’s not God’s will that any should perish.

The teachings of John Calvin state an unconditional election- that God not only knows, but chooses (or predestines) in eternity past who would be saved. This belief can easily negate the free will of man.

I’m totally down with only God doing the work of salvation, but this predestination belief is not resting with me so well.

Now I 100% believe that God knew who would be saved before He created us, but I’ve always kind of been on the Arminian side: the belief that God chose, or predestined, those who He KNEW would chose him in the future.

After all the Bible says,” that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, then you are saved”. So you have to make a decision to choose Jesus, right?

But Calvinism teaches that God’s chosing of us in eternity past was not based on our future decision to follow Him, but rather- simply His sovereignty. I acknowledge that I don’t have this figured out yet, but I do have a few potential problems with that philosophy:

1. God knows that future and He does know what decisions people will make, so He can’t make a choice or a decision without considering the future because He has already seen it. The future is His decision, and visa versa- a paradox, I know.

2. I’m not claiming to be right on this one, just jot down my feelings, but if God predestined those who would be saved unconditionally according to His soveriegnty; it makes Him seem cruel for not chosing to save everyone and unable to do so.

Now I know for a fact that every man deserves hell and it’s by God’s great grace alone that we are saved, but if He unconditionally choses who will be saved- sinners who deserve to go to hell- then why not choose everyone.

It almost could give those who believe to be elect a superiority complex- “God chose us and not you!” Then the question is why. We know our salvation is not based on merit/ good works, so those who are ‘elect’ are not so because of anything they have done or because of what kind of person they are- but it would sure be easy for them to conclude that.

3. If you believe that you have been unconditionally elected to be saved, then why would you need to/want to share the Gospel with others- since in your mind they have alreafy been predestined to be saved, or damned? My Calvinist friends call this paradox the ‘Frozen Chosen’.

I know that this post is not put together very well, but it’s only because my mind has not been 100% made up on this issue.

Conclusion: I love the Soveriegnty of God! I think man is totally incapable of saving himself. I know that God knows the future. I just believe that God demands us to make a decision to follow Him- which I guess takes a little bit of free will.