Flight

Politics in our time is tiring.  After two years of presidential campaigning the voters of Americas have reelected Barack Obama, a far left ideologue.  His political opinion is that the government has the duty and the authority to determine all things for the people.   The government knows what is best and any opposition is considered evil to be oppressed.  The Tea party ideals of smaller government, less spending with accompanying money honesty are the current target.  Both the establishment Republican and all the Democrats want us who so believe to retire into oblivion.

America, let’s just go cliff diving off the physical cliff!  Our politicians do little else than play political games for political advantage while they ignore the devastation that is burdening regular America.  Our politicians are boobs in the pay of special interests.  Only one thing will convince the voters of the lunacy of higher taxes and slower economic growth.  That thing is a total meltdown of the economy,  so as the Beetles sang, “let it be”.  Tea Party believers, make no deals with the devil, do not abandon your just cause, take the blame and let the sure economic failure of far left politics be experienced by all the people, the pain is regrettable but necessary.

G.Goslaw
Landers, Ca

A Theology of Healing

St. Luke  6: 19  …. and the people all tried to touch him, because the power was coming from him and
                                 healing them all.

Never, no way can the 21st century man believe that such a demonstration of healing power was possible.  The Scripture says that “all” the people tried to touch him and “all” of those who did were healed.  The modern man would say, this story must be at least an over exaggeration intended to support the assertion that this man, Jesus, was some kind of other worldly visitor.  A visitor who was not restrained by earthly norms or earthly expectations of what healing is possible.  They would go on to say, as some biblical scholars have maintained, these stories are myths, intended to convey a theological meaning but not a circumstance of fact.

While there is nothing evil about this scenario one would wonder if there may be just a bit more going on in this particular myth.  This particular verse is such a direct and inclusive summary of the healing ministry of Jesus that to pass it off so lightly is to give no credence to the divine connection only he has claimed in his short healing episode.  Could it not be that because of this unique connection Jesus was able to demonstrate unique healing power, boundless healing power that is for all and successful for all who touch him in that time and place?   No such stories emanate from his first 30 years on the planet.

Divine healing in this modern age is preached with many qualifiers, preached with more reasons why God would not heal than the very few actual healings.  The modern age has given rise to many so called prophets of God who make divine healing a central belief so as to facilitate a crowd.  Time and again these ministries are proven to be fraud operations making it more difficult to believe in what God was saying to us in the special person of Jesus.  So special that to limit his power is wrong and to assume similar power for our time is wrong.  

If the Jesus who healed all was also God, if he was showing us a glimpse of the perfection on the other side, how can this verse be modernized?

G.Goslaw
Landers, CA      

Leadership in 2013

Politicians and preachers promote themselves to be leaders but they first parrot the priorities of their own choirs.  The choirs are a depository of a particular group think.  In both the political realm and the church realm, each depository will raise up their own champions to challenge the supposed misguided adventures of the other group think depositories.  These champions have certain charismatic qualities that make this internal warfare seem more winnable.  Leadership, then, is reduced to the smaller battles instead of the corporate needs of all the people.  There is no Christian leadership as there is no national leadership.  This stagnation of leadership has never been this debilitating, never have the internal battle lines been so clearly drawn.  So where is the hope for all of us in 2013?

G.Goslaw
Landers, Ca

We

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Good Morning, it is December 25, 2013 and it is Christmas.  Are there certain movies you never tire to watch?  My all time favorite is the diddy, “the Last Starfighter”.  Christmas is like such movies, over and over again, regardless of the changing number of family members around the Christmas tree, regardless of the number of presents under the tree, Christmas will always be celebrated by you and I!  As we celebrate, we may become so involved that we lose sight of the fact that we are celebrating the existence of the Supreme Being.  We are celebrating the God of the galaxies who has a long term plan for the union of all life into his world.

This Christmas, please allow me to make a statement that I hope is worth chewing on throughout the coming year.  The Supreme Being, the God of the galaxies, cares with loving concern equally for each and every life form that has ever existed or ever will exist….. or there is no Supreme Being.  There can be no half way God, he or she is or they are not!  If they are not, Christmas becomes a collection of convenient wives tales that really matter to no one in the long term.

The Christian church has a grand affection for this half way God.  A theology that divides people into good and bad, chosen or unworthy, saved or the unsaved, the heaven bound or the hell bound, practicing churchmen or the uninterested, tends to make the God of the galaxies into a self involved exclusive possession of the few.  Again, this God is no God at all.  The God of the galaxies is a God who is for all or he is another deity on a totem pole.  Despite the church’s juvenile understanding of God, the God of the galaxies still chooses to set his plan in motion through the church, go figure!

The Church’s quest toward division is intended to rally the troops.  In that effort there is a, perhaps unconscious, effort to dumb down the scriptures to support a limited redemption plan.  One of this Sunday’s passages is from St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.  Let me illustrate the differences by using three more modern versions, the New International Version, the Living Bible and my own, amateurish and possibly at times overstated attempt to communicate the heart of the God of the galaxies.
     
St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, chapter 3: 1-12
(1.)  For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles--- (NIV)

I, Paul, the servant of Christ, am here in jail because of you-- for preaching that you Gentiles are a part of God’s house.  (Living Bible)

God through faith in Jesus Christ is constructing a bigger and bigger community of souls within which the Spirit of God can live and bring into actuality the forever normal of love, peace, gentleness and concern for one another.  I, Paul, as you know, have been imprisoned because I have carried that message to you, all of you beyond the Jewish world.  (gg)

(2.)  Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, (NIV)

No doubt you already know that God has given me this special work of showing God’s favor to you Gentiles, as I briefly mentioned in one of my letters.  (Living Bible)

You have heard from me that the message I bring is an invitation for all to join together with God to form this new community, one searching heart after another.  God wants me to tell all the peoples of the world that now is your time.  (gg)

(3.) that is, the mystery made know to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. (NIV)

God himself has shown me this secret plan that the Gentiles, too, are included in his kindness. (Living Bible)

God revealed to me his heart of concern for all.  I do not know why God has waited until this moment to share this inclusive appeal for all to join the community of souls for it is a bit of a mystery.  (gg)

 (4.) In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, (NIV)

I say this to explain to you how I know about these things.  (Living Bible)

My hope is that God will light up your understanding so that you will want to share in this new and better community of souls.  The invitation is addressed to all humankind, illustrated and empowered by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.   (gg)

(5.) which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. (NIV)

In olden times God did not share this plan with his people, but now he has revealed it by the Holy Spirit to his apostles and prophets.  (Living Bible)

In past generations, this invitation was not given to the peoples who worshiped other Gods.  It was addressed only to the Jew, to be acted upon or ignored.  Now, the leaders of the community of believing souls agree that the invitation is addressed to all peoples.  (gg)

(6.) This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.  (NIV)

And this is the secret: that the Gentiles will have their full share with the Jews in all the riches inherited by God’s sons; and all God’s promises of mighty blessings through Christ apply to them both when they accept the Good News about Christ and what he has done for them. (Living Bible)
             
The greater mystery is the seemingly senseless desire of God to mix together into one community of souls the morally and ethically inferior, who have worshiped idols, with the historically blessed people of the true God of Israel.  Even more confusing is that together they all, saint and heathen, are mutual heirs to the corporate destiny God has planned for all his children.   (gg)


(7.)  I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. (NIV)

God has given me the wonderful privilege of telling everyone about this plan of his; and he has given his power and special ability to do it well. (Living Bible)

My life is a living testimony to the love and concern of the one true God, who is empowering me to speak out about the new community of all peoples whom God has made alive into eternity.   The message and invitation is because God cares.  (gg)
   
(8.)  Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, (NIV)

Just think!  Though I did nothing to deserve it, and though I am the most useless Christian there is, yet I was the one chosen for the special joy of telling the Gentiles the Glad News of the endless treasures available to them in Christ;  (Living Bible)

The mystery is even more confusing that I was chosen by God to be his spokesman.  I am nothing special to be given such a grand calling, to tell the world of this great confluence of all peoples into the plans of God. The limitless gathering together of all peoples, regardless of religious, national or ethical backgrounds.  (gg)

(9.) and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.  (NIV)

And to explain to everyone that God is the Savior of the Gentiles too, just as he who made all things had secretly planned from the beginning.  (Living Bible)

Please let me shout, let me yell out the news that much of God’s confusing ways may only appear to be so for the short time they are hidden from us.  It took Jesus to pull back the curtain of confusion to show us the heart of God for all men, the heart of God that is at the center of his created order.  Why it should have to be so, I am without an answer?  (gg)

(10.)  His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,  (NIV)

And his reason!  To show to all the rulers in heaven how perfectly wise he is when all of his family, Jews and Gentiles alike--- are seen to be joined together in his church.  (Living Bible)

God has orchestrated the great confluence of peoples into one faith community of souls so that all persons in the heavens and on earth will have the opportunity to experience true divine wisdom.  Wisdom not of this world’s learning but gifted of God, a shared concern for all of life that is beyond all other authority.  (gg)

(11.) according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (NIV)

in just the way he had always planned it through Jesus Christ our Lord.  (Living Bible)

The tipping point of the planned community of believer in God is the person and work of Christ Jesus our Lord, who is the beginning and the end.  The beginning of the new order of his newly dispensed concern for all men and the end of the time of apparent concern for just the few.  Jesus made it happen and we must trust his judgment.  (gg)

(12.)  In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.  (NIV)

Now we can come fearlessly right into God’s presence, assured of his glad welcome when we come with Christ and trust in him.  (Living Bible)

Jesus illuminated the limitless love of God so that by faith we all can now inch closer to Him without the fear of death and with confidence in the gift of His eternal security.   We all, peoples from the past, present and future, need only to ask of Him.  No one will eventually be left out of this community!  We may have a choice in man’s timing but we all shall surrender in God’s timing.

G.Goslaw
Landers, Ca

No Clue

Sunday, December 30, 2012

The letter of Paul to the Colossians, chapter  3:12-17
12.  Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
13.  Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you have a grievance against someone.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
14.  And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15.  Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.  And be thankful.
16.  Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.
17.  And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

The Gospel of St. Luke, chapter  2: 41-52
41.  Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover.
42.  When he was twelve years old, they went to the festival, according to the custom.
43.  After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it.
44.  Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day.  Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends.
45.  When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him.
46.  After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.
47.  Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.
48.  When his parents saw him, they were astonished.  His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this?  Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
49.  “Why were you searching for me? He asked. “Didn’t you know that I had to be in my Father’s house?”
50.  But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
51.  Then he went down to Nazareth with then and was obedient to them.  But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.
52.  And as Jesus grew up, he increased in wisdom and in favor with God and people.  
       
Three days, Mary and Joseph searched Jerusalem for three days before they found the twelve year old Jesus. The three days may not have included the one day they traveled away from the city, so there may have been as many as five days in which Jesus was missing.  If this search were in our time, the police would be involved, the freeway signs would light up issuing an alert, and the radio and TV news broadcasts would raise public awareness of the missing child.  The Scripture for this Sunday mildly understates the situation by describing Mary and Joseph’s efforts as an anxious search.  If it were my son, panic would be a more appropriate word.  How would you feel if your twelve year old were missing for five days?

It is dangerous to compare times and places but this situation is strange, so strange that charges of parental neglect seem appropriate.  Jerusalem was the center of the population of the land but three days walking around the city, asking everyone if they had seen Jesus, seems like a highly questionable search.  Where were they looking for the search to have taken three days?  Did they look in the city park?  Did they check out the teen hangouts?  Did they check out the backwaters of the city?  Were they searching the red light district?  One would have to ask, did they know their son?  The three day fruitless search says no.

Every one of us, everyone who has ever lived is unique, our individual person hood is a good predictor of behavior.  Are we followers or leaders?  Are we easily influenced by others or do we act upon our own beliefs?  At our core are we a sensual person, money motivated, fun motivated or do we value our person hood as others may judge us?  Any one who has been a parent recognizes these personal characters in their children and if we are honest, recognize their influence in our own lives.  This being the case, why is the Temple, the center of the religious and spiritual life of the nation, the last place that Mary looks for her son?

Mary who sang the praises of the God who would do great things through her son.  Mary who was visited by an angel to convince her of the divine intentions relating to the birth of Jesus.  Twelve years after the fact, her actions seems to say that she was convinced to a greater extent with his normality, convinced that her son was just another Jewish boy about to reach spiritual maturity.  It is all so confusing.  Yet, there is only one place to go to try to untangle these events.   The story fails to directly account for the spiritually deflating power of the every day.

Life’s demands are a consumer of personal energy.  Regardless of the era in which we live, so much of our energy is required to satisfy the routine of life. We all know the truth of this energy equation.  One day upon another requires so much time, money and personal space that we get numb and loose sight of the truly important life experiences or priorities like family and spiritual things.  Mary and Joseph suffered under this routine of life deflator just as we do today.  This does not excuse their lack of spiritual perception about their son but it is a real life mitigating circumstance.

Where does this unavoidable deflation factor leave you and I?   Will the routine of life leave us with no clue as to the identity of those we love or even the identity of ourselves?  Will the day to day routine of life lead us to settle for a religious identification instead of an alive personal spiritual faith?   When and if we read the Bible, do we read out of some sense of obligation, or goal or search for knowledge or do we read to search for some increased level of spiritual wisdom and understanding.  Jesus at twelve was about gaining wisdom, by listening and questioning his spiritual leaders.  These two characters are missing from the program of the modern church that assumes it knows best, except there are thousands of “bests”, differing “bests”, promoted every Sunday.

Paul tells us in his letter to the Colossians what the alive fellowship of believers should be about.  This lofty look at the church at work is probably practical but it is a least a goal going forward.  If and when it does exist, it is what we all really need but it seems to be so rare.  A community of believers so unaffected by the routine of life that the forever normal is alive and taking action in their midst.  Such a spiritual experience in this world would, indeed, be a miracle to behold.

What can we do in the meantime?  Follow the clues, they are there!    

G.Goslaw
Landers, Ca

Done Deed

Sunday,  December 23, 2012

This Sunday’s scriptures document a visit by Mary to the house of Elizabeth.  Both women were expecting a son to be born in the next few months, sons that were introduced to their mother’s before birth.  They were informed from above that these men would have a unique significance in the plans of God for his people.  Jesus was to be born to Mary and Elizabeth carried the revivalist John the Baptist.  Their story is the Christmas story.

St. Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 1, verses 39 through 45 (Mary visit’s Elizabeth)
39.  At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea,
40.  where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth.
41.  When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the
       Holy Spirit.
42.  In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!
43.  But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
44.  As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
45.  Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”

God’s timing is hard to figure.  Why would God choose this time and these people to work a fundamental change in God’s redemptive plans?  Why are we asked to believe these happenings and these people who convey what cannot be proven?  The cynic prefers to swim in the sea of self made doubt.  Let us try to believe what cannot be proven, try to put our lives in the midst of these two unpretentious ladies who posses the arrogance to believe that their anonymity had been noticed and that God was about to do something grand.

This is how Mary, the soon to be mother of Jesus, rejoiced at her winning number.

St. Luke’s Gospel, chapter 1, verses 46 through 55 (Mary’s Song)
46.  And Mary said:
       My soul glorifies the Lord
47.  and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48.  for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.
       From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49.  for the Mighty One has done great things for me--
       holy is his name.
50.  His mercy extends to those who fear him,
       from generation to generation.
51.  He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
       he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52.  He has brought down rulers from their thrones
       but has lifted up the humble.
53.  He has filled the hungry with good things
       but sent the rich away empty.
54.  He has helped his servant Israel,
       remembering to be merciful
55.  to Abraham and his descendents forever,
       just as he promised our ancestors.”


Mary and Elizebeth were celebrating and rejoicing with the certainty that the hand of God touching their lives through their babies.  Their joy was expressed as a additive to their Jewish religion.  They expected the baby Jesus, the promised Messiah of Israel, would raise the Jewish religion far above all others and somehow make it’s performance creditable within their community and to all the world. Rather than the birth of a localized Jewish messiah or savior, God sent Jesus to be the focal point for the salvation of all men, everywhere.    Jesus was given to earth to end all religion.

Letter to the Hebrews, chapter 10: 5-10
5.   Therefore when Christ came into the world, he said:
      “Sacrifice and offerings you did not desire,
      but a body you prepared for me:
6.   with burnt offerings and sin offerings
      you were not pleased.
7.   Then I said, ‘Here I am---it is written about me in the scroll--
      I have come to do your will, my God.’ ”
8.   First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were
      you pleased with them”--though they were offered in accordance with the law.
9.   Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will”.  He sets aside the first to establish the second.
10. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Done Deed

The world is celebrating “when Christ came into the world” at this Christmas season.  Again the question should be asked, what are we celebrating?  Is the celebration about a new born baby, a nativity scene or the warmth of a shared moment among family and friends.  In the affairs of mankind, what actually happened so long ago in a remote corner of the world that warrants a celebration?  A happening that has resulted in 33% of the worlds population declaring that they adhere to the Christian understanding of God.  Is the incarnation about the religion of Israel, is it about the Christian religion?

According to the writer of Hebrews, who was writing to those who had a Jewish religious mindset,  the answer is no, the Christmas story is about the end of religion.  Quoting the words of Jesus, God was not pleased with the Jewish religion that could not touch our sin.  We should ask, can any religion of man actually touch our sin even when we perform certain ritual or adhere to certain intellectual precepts or use a sacred writing as a rule book?  No, these efforts on our part to find religious salvation must seem so juvenile to God.  Only God has authority to forgive sin so that the religious mindset is always a life failure.

The newness of the Christmas story is that all men, regardless and in spite of their religion, have been rescued from the emptiness of human existence by the action of God in Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen baby of Bethlehem.  That newness should be celebrated at Christmas because a new holiness for mankind was given at Christmas and on the cross of Calvary.  An undeserved holiness given only because God through Jesus Christ so willed it.  The last three words of verse 10 are most instructive, “once for all”.  God has rescued his creation and it is complete and a done deed.

Did the writer of Hebrews understand the universal scope of God’s Christmas gift?  Probably not, the “we” of verse 10 may indicate a limited mindset that is beneath the grandness of Christmas.  Of course the holy “we” could be interpreted as the entire community of mankind.  Which interpretation do you prefer?  Which is the bigger Christmas Gift?

G.Goslaw
Landers, CA

Life

There exists a moral equivalency that permeates all things and all persons.  If there is a God, this moral equivalency must exist.  All of us are arrogant hypocrites to believe that we can entangle our lives outside of this reality and still function unaffected.  We can even choose not to believe in God and find ourselves entangles in a moral universe with moral equivalency.  To avoid the moral equivalency is impossible, we will reap the rewards of our lawbreaking.  What is true of persons is also true of cultures or societies.  A case in point is the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy.

In the last few days the media has paraded a chorus of spokespersons, religious leaders, politicians, sports figures, media analysts, the president, psychiatrists, those immediately affected and a nation in fear of being affected by such events.  The sympathies expressed are real and the Sandy Hook circumstances have made them all well deserved.  Everyone is asking, why?  How are we to rationally compartmentalize such a shocking and irrational event?  The why is in each of our hearts.  Yet, in spite of all the expert comments, all the soul searching, all the good advice, we again remain in a quandary without an answer.

Could the answer be that the children are paying the price for our duplicity, our own lawbreaking?  Could it be that we as a society have taken actions that are breaking God’s moral equivalency in regard to the value of life?  If we as a society do not value life in our personal, legal and political lives, then there will be hell to pay.  Those of us who would like to avoid responsibility are quick to assign blame to God for the horror.  It is God’s fault because he devised this morally equivalent world!  Stupid is as stupid does.

Such a historically overly utilized human cop out will only lead us to more Sandy Hook tragedies, we must muster the courage to face our demons.  The moral equivalency in question is that violence returns to us as violence.  It is written into the stars and history has repeatedly confirmed this truth.  When our society condones and makes violence in the womb legal, accessible and acceptable, all of our children become vulnerable to the certainty of returned violence that we are owed.  This is a morally equivalent world, how long will we faint blindness and deny that fact?

G.Goslaw
Landers, Ca

The Forever Normal

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Philippians  4: 4-7
Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all.  The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  


In this passage from St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, the mindset of Paul is clear, he expected the soon (near) return of the Christ, who will take charge of all the world and set up his Kingdom, so …why worry? …be happy!  St. Paul was probably 2000 yrs off on his expectation of Christ’s return so can we be expected to live this way in the 21st century, considerate of others, at peace with our circumstances, without fear, in prayer and with a grateful attitude?  Can “gentleness” be the post resurrection new normal for the believer regardless of when the Christ returns?

Some may say no!  There is no way that such a life can manage to flourish in our winner take all culture. We cannot succeed with a gentle spirit in this slash and grab America.  Besides, someone may call us a pansy doormat!  Mistakenly, St. Paul is slammed for not living in the real world!  They say, today we must fight for our place in the world and our own worldly expectations, be they money or respect.

If life is merely our own personal circumstances, is not the  description used by John the Baptist, “you brood of vipers”, appropriate?

Luke  3: 7-18
John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?  Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.  And do not begin to say to yourselves ‘We have Abraham as our father’.  For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.  The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

“What should we do then?” the crowd asked.

John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”

Even tax collectors come to be baptized.  “Teacher”, they asked, “what should we do?”

“Don’t collect any more than you are required to.” he told them.

Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”

He replied, “Don’t extract money and don’t accuse people falsely-- be content with your pay.”

The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah.  John answered them all, “I baptize you with water.  But one who is more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.  His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather his wheat into the barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.  And with many other words John exhorted the people and proclaimed the good news to them.

Remember John the Baptist was an old school believer in the divine reality.  The folks were coming to his baptism because they were not living the faith of there fathers.  They may have been religiously correct but their selfish lifestyle had proven to be personally destructive.  The baptism with water was a new beginning, a new start at life with a gentle spirit and considerate of others.  A life that reflects the Ten Commandments of old.  Could it be that the old normal may be the new normal with God?

Could we not assume that there is only one forever normal in the heart and plans of God?  The forever normal that was intended for we humans from the beginning.  A destiny that every generation, every rebellious generation has walked away from but the inward desire to live life God’s way ever beckons.  Sin is selfishness, a self centered life that tangles the intentions of God in each of us.  Most people, at one time or another, would like to be free but we are our own trap.

John the Baptist knew that his water baptism was not a long term fix for the people.  When asked if he was the Messiah he deferred to one amongst them that is more powerful than he, one who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire.  This other personage was to bring a separation, a winnowing of the sin that tangles and the spirit of mankind that longs to be free to live the forever normal.  A purification of sorts that may be signaled by the fire that appeared above the disciples heads at Pentecost.  A similar context would be the lake of fire in the book of Revelations.

If you or I were God, we certainly would send to earth a Messiah or Christ with the sledge hammer of judgment, a hammer that even the best of us deserve.  But not so the God of mercy who is about a grand abiding concern for all his folk.  The Messiah would bring the purification fires to give us greater opportunity to live released from our selfishness.

The baptism with the Holy Spirit is about purification which will establish a community of persons sharing the concern of God and that concern with each other.  That community is the forever normal in action.  Every religion, every believer, every church should ask if that kind of action is happening in their context?  Despite all the spiritual freedom we have been blessed to possess, do we ask God to light the fires in our lives?  Fires that will give us the opportunity to live the forever normal.

On the other side we will experience the fire of purification.  Why not begin in this life to experience just a taste of the joy?

G.Goslaw
Landers, Ca