A Bitter Pill

"Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble [you], and thereby many be defiled" - Hebrews 12:15

The holiday season is upon us once again (can you believe it) and for millions of people it is not a time of rejoicing but of misery and pain. Loss tends to be magnified during this season. Many people live in a perpetual state of bitterness which is manifested in many different ways from depression to alcohol/drug abuse and everything in between.

The trap of depression is a difficult one to escape and it is one I know full well. I've battled depression my entire adult life. I make no bones about this, it is a constant fight and my people are well aware of my struggles. While I don't read my laundry list to them I do let people know that in spite of my position as pastor, I am also a human being and as such have the same weaknesses and flaws as everyone else. I write this so you will know where I am coming from with these comments; I know whereof I speak from personal experience.

The root of addictions and depression stems from bitterness. Life has thrown things at us that we are often unprepared for and unequipped to properly deal with. Bitterness isn't just a man or woman who lives in a state of uncontrolled rage. It takes on many forms but all of them are just as deadly. God knows full well the power of human emotions, in fact, Jesus Himself had to deal with them during his time here (Matthew 26:37-38). Left unchecked, our damaged emotions can bring us to a place of destruction that no man can escape from.

Sadly, the church is not normally a place where one can find comfort in the midst of this storm. In fact, there's not a lot of ministers who know how to help people caught in this maelstrom of emotion. I know I've been buried under a pile of empty Christian cliches like "just trust God" or "Give your burdens to Jesus" when what I needed was someone who could help me cope with my bitterness.

God calls bitterness a root in Hebrews. That isn't a mistake. Roots run deep and over time can be impossible to remove without some pretty heavy equipment. Prayer is a powerful weapon but sometimes we need to use some of the other weapons of our warfare in order to pull down these decades old strongholds in our lives. Again, far too many of our churches are ill-equipped to help people.

Of course, God is more than able to uproot the bitterness in our lives. But, that requires a level of yielding and sacrifice that many are unable or unwilling to submit to. All we know is we are hurting and we need relief NOW! I've buried a lot of born-again Christians who've taken their own lives (including pastors) because they couldn't bear another day in misery.

Ahithophel is one such individual. I'm sure that name is unfamiliar to you unless you've memorized every name in the Bible. We first meet Ahithophel in 2 Samuel 15:12 and his occupation, according to the scriptures, was King David's counselor. Understand that "counselor" in the O.T. isn't the same thing as a counselor today; David didn't need a shrink he needed a military adviser. That was Ahithophel.

If you keep reading in 2 Samuel 15 you'll find Ahithophel changed teams during Absolom's insurrection against his father, David. If you don't know the story, David's son attempted to steal the kingdom of Israel from his father as was predicted by Nathan after David's actions with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11-12). Many of David's closest friends and advisers betrayed their king in favor of Absolom's coup attempt and Ahithophel was one of them.

But, Ahithophel's story doesn't end with his betrayal. If you read 2 Samuel 17 you'll find a man who's got a blood-vendetta against his former king. Ahithophel doesn't want to just betray David, he wants to kill him himself (2 Samuel 17:2). Absolom denied Ahithophel his request to kill David and Ahithophel responded by going home, getting his affairs in order and hanging himself.

This is not the activity of a stable human being. You can see the bitterness leap off the page as you read Ahithophel's story. The question remains, why was Ahithophel so angry with his former king? What had David done that deemed him worthy of death in Ahithophel's eyes? More information is required; fortunately, the Bible gives it to us.

If you read 2 Samuel 23:34 you'll learn about Ahithophel's family line. According to that verse Ahithophel had a son named Eliam. Again, that name probably won't mean much to you so a little further digging is required. Check out 2 Samuel 11:3. Apparently Eliam had a daughter whose name you'll undoubtedly recognize...Bathsheba. If you know the story of David and Bathsheba (and if you don't I recommend you read 2 Samuel 11 and 12) the pieces of this tale begin to fall into place.

David's actions with his granddaughter and grandson-in-law brought Ahithophel to a place of murderous/suicidal bitterness. From a human perspective we can understand why Ahithophel felt the way he did. Not only did David bring ruin to his family's life he also, apparently, got away with it. God didn't smite David for his sin so Ahithophel took it upon himself to get the justice that God had denied him.

God allows a lot of things to happen that do not make sense to us. From national tragedies like 9/11 to personal ones, if you've lived on this earth for any length of time every single one of us have gone to God with the eternal question, "why?". For many, the answers they get are unsatisfactory. We are taught that God is a God of love and compassion and that he is sovereign. To our thinking that means that God, who is in charge of everything and is motivated by love, must be able to and should be willing to prevent tragedy from occuring. At the very least if He can't or won't prevent tragedy, he should bring swift justice upon those who caused the tragedy in the first place.

When neither of those expectations are met, many people have a crisis of faith brought on by bitterness over the situation. You may be surprised how many faithful church attendees believe in their deepest heart-of-hearts that God failed them and is no longer trustworthy. I know I've met plenty of people who have left the church for this very reason. For a time, I was one of those people.

Hebrews 12:15 begins with a very bold statement: "Lest anyone should fail of the grace of God..." How does one "fail the grace of God"? Easy, just get mad at God and walk away from Him. It happens all the time. I know the more pious among us would ask "How could anyone get mad at God in light of the gospel?" I say again, it happens all the time. People have expectations from a sovereign and loving God and when those expectations aren't met in the face of tragedy they have only one of two responses: draw closer to Him or run away.

To those who draw closer to Him the Bible teaches He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:6). But, to those who leave Him, they enter into a place of bitterness and sorrow that becomes more difficult to escape from with each passing day. Again, I know whereof I speak.

As the holidays approach, I wish to use our airtime to speak to this problem of bitterness. What is the solution, you may ask? Well, it is much easier to say than it is to do and we'll be getting into more detailed discussion of it this Saturday at 5:30 pm...

But, for those who are trapped in the pit of despair, they need to understand why they are there and how to get out. The escape starts, as always, with true, unconditional forgiveness...which is the most difficult thing for a soul wracked with bitterness to do...

Stay tuned, true believers.

Band of Brothers

"But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd." - Matthew 9:36

This week's elephant in the auditorium is the lack of Christ-like compassion in modern evangelical denominational Christianity. Yes, this is a general statement and there are, as always, exceptional people serving Christ with genuine love for God and their fellow man. Unfortunately, those exceptional people seem to be just that, the exception.

Case in point, just this past Sunday one of elders of the church I pastor approached me after the service; she was nearly in tears. This kingdom-minded lady does not have a judgmental nor vindictive bone in her body. She serves with love and devotion to God as well as the people He puts in her path. The reason for her tears was due to one of the church members blindsiding her with condemning comments about her choice of clothing before the morning service.

In the span of about 5 seconds the condemning words from a member of God's family brought this lady from a place of joy to a place of sorrow simply because she did not meet the dress requirements of one of her fellow brethren.(The offending article of clothing was a pair of blue jeans). What most troubles me about this exchange is the absolute lack of compassion shown by the saint who felt compelled to bring their opinion to this woman's attention. Apparently the sin of wearing denim to church was a far greater crime against God and His word than the sin of judging and condemning a fellow believer in Christ (Matthew 7:1; Romans 8:1; Romans 14).

Another example of this void of compassion in Christianity revolves around my second pastorate in Galena Park. Believe me I've got a guano mine of examples of compassionless Christians from that second pastorate but the one glaring example stems from my attempt to start a Spanish-speaking mission from our church.

Anyone who knows anything about the Galena Park, TX area knows it is predominantly Hispanic. My desire was to minister to those in our community. We had the minister, the support of other churches and the facilities to make it happen. We even had some Hispanic saints attending our church...at least until the vote to begin the mission came.

I'll never forget the shock I felt when I opened the floor for discussion before bringing the mission effort to a vote. One by one my oldest and (supposedly) most experienced and wise saints stood to voice their opposition to this effort. The excuses they gave were some of the most blatantly racist and ignorant statements I've ever heard in a public forum. The statements ranged from asking why 'these people' just don't go to one of their own churches to (and I'm not making this up) voicing concerns over 'these Mexicans using our toilets'. The vote was taken and the effort was voted down. Ironically, this church had taken the effort to permanently paint the church's foundational mission statement on its exterior sign for all the world to see: "Independent, Fundamental, Missionary".

Compassion means "to have mercy on; to help one afflicted or seeking aid; to help the afflicted, to bring help to the wretched." The words "pity" and "empathy" are synonymous with the word "compassion". Christ's motivation for everything he did on earth was compassion (Matt.14:14; Matt. 15:32; Matt.20:34). Since the word "Christian" literally means to "be like Christ" I assume Christians are to be motivated by the same stimulus as their leader. For far too many, this fundamental fact has been tossed aside in favor of defending denominational/doctrinal distinctives and man-made rules and regulations.

There are many Christians who believe Christianity is the most perfect expression of love and compassion known to man. In fact, I've heard preachers assert that only Christians have the capacity to show true love and compassion. This is false. If you doubt me just read Exodus 2:6 (which happens to be the first time the word "compassion" is used in the KJV of the Bible) and see who the bible describes as showing compassion for another human being.

The title of this blog is taken from the book and HBO mini-series about the lives and experiences of the men of Easy Company during World War II. What you'll find is that human beings have an amazing capacity for compassion for their fellow man. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the story of men and women who form unbreakable bonds during wartime. I believe it is a telling point to observe men and women who have no spiritual affiliation whatsoever showing more love, compassion and loyalty to one another than an entire nation full of Christian churches.

We should be the example that others follow. Christians should have the reputation of a company of brothers who would die for one another instead of kill one another over dress code violations and bathroom habits. The sad truth is the enemy succeeded in dividing and conquering us a long time ago by convincing men and women that it is the pinnacle of godliness to major on the minors and ignore the majors of the scriptures. I still hear pastors screaming on the radio about the sin of compromising the word of God by allowing women to wear pants in church or by using the wrong version of the bible or one of 1,000 other minor topics that have no bearing on eternity one way or the other.

Ungodly judgment is founded in selfishness and bitterness and these things are the exact opposite of pity, empathy and compassion. Would to God that His people would stop trying to find reasons to divide and start doing what the bible says (1 Peter 3:8) for a change.

I find it amazing that God was able to do more ministry with one physical human body and 12 helpers in 3 1/2 years than he's been able to accomplish with a global Body of Christ and millions of servants. I believe we wouldn't need homeless shelters and other para-church organizations like Promise Keepers if the church would stop eating their own and simply start letting love and compassion be their motivation for their actions (James 1:26-27).

No Call For Alchohol?

"Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who linger over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine. Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly! In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper. Your eyes will see strange sights and your mind imagine confusing things. You will be like one sleeping on the high seas, lying on top of the rigging. "They hit me," you will say, "but I'm not hurt! They beat me, but I don't feel it! When will I wake up so I can find another drink?" - Proverbs 23:29-35 (NIV)

"Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses." - 1 Timothy 5:23 (NIV)

I received an e-mail from a listener last week wherein he/she felt compelled to inform me of his/her decision to stop listening to the radio program due to my comments on drinking during the show last week. They felt I was guilty of being a stumbling block to anyone listening when I mentioned it was not scripturally forbidden to have an alcoholic beverage in moderation as long as do so doesn't cause a "weaker" brother to stumble.

I've shared my thoughts and feelings on this subject many times over the years and every single time I've approached the subject of the permissibility of drinking under the "Statute of Liberty" clause in scripture I am always challenged, criticized and in some cases accused of many heinous things that I won't get into here.

It goes without saying that in Fundamental, Evangelical, American Christianity drinking is considered one of the seven deadly sins. Make no mistake, alcoholism is a very real problem that adversely affects literally billions of people both here and across the world. Having said that, I have discovered a very simple truth over the years. Namely, people who have either been a victim of or participated in alcoholism are (generally speaking) vehemently against anyone teaching that it is OK with God if you have a "little wine". In other words, scriptures are translated more by our intellect and experience rather than the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit of God. Jesus didn't tell us to lean on our own understanding of things and let our experiences guide us into all truth. He said the Holy Spirit would guide us into all truth.

My purpose in bringing this controversial subject up is neither to cause people to stumble nor to "stir things up" as the listener opined in his/her e-mail. My purpose is to get God's people to think about some of our taboos and sacred cows. As we have discussed in previous programs, legalism and liberalism are two extremes that are tearing the body of Christ into pieces. People get very emotional about their opinions and beliefs, particularly when it deals with a subject like this one. When emotion gets involved, rationale and common sense go right out the window...every single time.

Such is the case with the subject of drinking. I would ask the question to anyone who believes any form of drinking is a sin: where exactly is the passage of scripture that commands complete abstinence from any and all alcoholic beverages? I'm constantly amazed at how many of God's people believe the bible teaches complete abstinence from drinking. You can read the entire Bible from now till the rapture and you'll never find one single verse of scripture commanding that. You'll find a ton of scripture commanding us to "Be not drunk with wine..." (Ephesians 5:18) but you won't find any scriptures commanding abstinence.

I've quoted two different passages of scriptures above that seem to contradict one another. In Proverbs you have Solomon's warning against abusing alcohol. Again, Proverbs isn't commanding abstinence; it's warning against abusive use of alcohol. I know many will disagree with that statement so I'll ask you this, if God's will for us is to never touch any alcoholic beverage of any kind then why did the apostle Paul advise his son in the faith to take a little wine for medicinal purposes in 1 Timothy 5?

I've actually heard people try to explain Paul wasn't talking about literal wine but rather the "fruit of the vine" which meant grape juice. In fact, I know many brethren that teach that every time wine is mentioned in scripture it is actually talking about unfermented grape juice and not the alcoholic variety. This teaching is a prime example of letting opinion and bias dictate the interpretation of the scriptures. Just a quick lesson: people in the Middle East know the difference between wine and grape juice. When you see the word "wine" in the Authorized King James Version of the Bible it means an alcoholic beverage made from fermented grapes not Welch's.

But I digress. Consider, if Paul's single verse to Timothy were the only verse in the Bible that described a prominent New Testament Christian using wine one could easily argue that a watered down drop of wine for medicinal purposes is permissible but no more. But then there's Christ.

It's difficult to be accused of being a "wine bibber" if you're not imbibing in wine. Christ drank wine, served wine (yep, the Lord's Supper contained wine, not grape juice as some like to believe) and even made wine in a most miraculous fashion. If alcohol is verboten then why is the Son of God associated with this sinful liquid no less than 4 different times in scriptures?

The point to all of this is not to get God's people to run to the bars to get their drink on. I couldn't care less if any of God's people drank or not. That's not the issue. The issue is ignorance of the scriptures and the judgmental attitudes of some in the Body of Christ. I find it amazing that people have no problem engaging in activities that the scriptures emphatically forbids when they unjustly accuse, judge, condemn and emotionally/spiritually execute one another over issues the Bible does NOT forbid...like drinking a "little wine".

In case you need any further help with this, let me leave you with this sadly true story of a friend of mine. This brother went to France to serve as a missionary. After a year of service there the church-grapevine was ablaze with rumors and tales of his alcohol abuse. After months of scandalous rumors and a full investigation by his home church he returned to the states in disgrace wearing the scarlet letter "A" for "Alcoholic" and eventually dropped out of church service altogether.

The rumors of his alcoholism started when a "weaker" pastor visited him on the field and took offense at his use of wine during meals. Naturally, when this pastor returned to the states he fired off a letter to the missionary's home church informing them of this heinous activity and further informed them of his decision to withdraw supporting funds for the mission effort in France. After all, he reasoned, how can a Bible-believing church support a man who is living in direct contradiction to the clearly taught Word of God that we abstain from all appearance of evil?

The missionary's home church began a full investigation and learned that this servant of God had indeed been drinking wine while on the mission field. Pressure to return home to receive treatment for alcoholism was immediately issued and before you knew it, this faithful brother in Christ was demoted from missionary to pariah within the church community.

The truth of the matter is the brother was not an alcoholic. He was simply following the customs and culture of the people he was attempting to minister to; customs that were permissible by scripture, I might add. In talking with him many years after this event took place he explained to me how insulting it was to the French people he visited if he turned down their offers of wine. "After all," he explained to me, "those people drink wine like we drink iced tea." So, in an effort to win the lost at any cost he joined his French brethren in a "little wine" during meals. Unfortunately, because of the scriptural and cultural ignorance of God's people a soldier in the Lord's army was taken out by "friendly fire".

My purpose in this discussion is to do my part to educate and illuminate God's people with the glorious light of God's word. This kind of ignorant judgmentalism is what has earned us the reputation of intolerant, unforgiving, unmerciful basket-cases in the eyes of the world. It is a reputation that I hope to see changed as more people turn away from ignorant emotional interpretation of scriptures and grow in the grace and power of God.

So, to recap: it is forbidden by God to get drunk, because it is excessive abuse. It is not forbidden, however, to use alcohol in moderation as long as we are not using our liberties to cause a weaker brother to stumble (1 Corinthians 8:9). I'm not advocating abuse of any kind. Just understand that we can and do abuse every single thing that God has placed on this planet for our good and even our pleasure. We abuse food, sex, medicine, money, drink and even our liberties. None of those things are forbidden; we're just instructed not to abuse them.

Holy Spirit needs to guide us into all truth on issues like this one. We can't lean on our own understanding of these controversial gray areas of scripture. We can't let our past experiences negatively affect our attitudes and opinions of these matters. Let God show you the truth concerning his glorious liberty and I promise you, the truth will absolutely set you free...

...not to get blasted on the weekends but free to serve God with no man-made restraints, no man-made obstacles and no man-made rules and regulations that God never placed nor intended for His children. This is the point for raising this issue this weekend. I hope you'll tune in and participate in the discussion.

Stay tuned, true believers...